Dear Editor,
Letter writers should seriously attempt to explore the collective details of the landscape they address outside of their intimate arenas. I am a father/grandfather; all my family live in Guyana and are looking forward to a change of government to transcend this dismal period of irresponsible governance. In a letter in SN on April 13, captioned ‘Is the coalition planning to win on the ignorance of our youth?’ Ms Ryhaan Shah implies that the coalition hasn’t given young people their history lesson. I am struggling to understand the thought process that has evolved with this convoluted script; which history does she think our young people are unaware of? Let me suggest: the Bharrat Jagdeo and Roger Khan era, which saw more than two hundred Guyanese murdered; or the immediate period we live in, with joblessness and thousands of drug addicts across the nation, some of whom commit serious crimes; or the sixties which envelop Burnham and Jagan.
Go and walk opposite the Ministry of Human Services building and there you will see the destitute and the junkies, and nobody cares. That is the history of the now that they’re concerned about. If you’re a mother you will understand that young people – and they’re all around me – want jobs now. They’re interested in earning to eat; they smoke drugs out of frustration and hopelessness, and are disgusted by the nepotism of the PPP and its associates, who are lacerated by scandals, dishonesty and immoral behaviour. What history is Ryhaan Shah talking about?
David Granger for many years published ‘The Guyana Review,’ in addition to ‘The Emancipation Magazine’ and numerous publications on the Village Movement and local history. At Austin’s there is a wide selection of local publications. Ms Shah should understand that our youths read; the coalition youth are on Facebook, and they draw my attention to issues, especially the current semi-literate babblings of a Minister’s daughter.
Most Guyanese are working class with families; they can’t jump on a plane if they have a stomach bug. They die in childbirth, waiting for service at the free hospital because they can’t afford the private ones; the young and their parents are all vulnerable. There’s no debate about Jaganites or Burnhamites in Guyana today; it’s about getting out the hungry band and not allowing them to misuse taxpayers’ money. The ideal now rests with the creation of a history of accountability; definitely Ms Shah lives in an ‘Other’ world,
Yours faithfully,
Barrington Braithwaite
