Dear Editor,
I have just returned to Guyana for the fourth time in ten years and as usual I am regularly asked the proverbial question, “So what do you think about Guyana?” ‒ meaning of course my current views since my last visit. This question for the most part is really a polite one, like “How was your flight?” Some persons, however, are truly interested in listening to your views, I guess mainly to compare these with their own.
Well the truth is since I left in 2007, much has remained the same or gotten worse, despite the gains from the introduction of VAT, high gold prices, Lotto, etc. The reason this is so I think is because Guyanese have allowed their standards to drop to such basic levels that they are now accepted and considered normal. This is evident wherever you go.
While one can still find the natural friendliness and hospitality that has always been a hallmark of most Guyanese, the reduction in personal standards has impacted on this quality in a way that has taken much of the shine off it.
Now I do not wish to appear haughty or any such thing, but I do believe high standards count for a lot when you judge a country’s people, and they are certainly necessary if we are to develop in a sustainable way. There is a flourishing ‘hustle’ mentality, which in itself is not a bad thing at all, but the hustle is mostly of one unlawful kind or another. Someone for instance always knows a way or a friend who can help you get what you want by bypassing the lawful channels irrespective of the damaging fiscal consequences which may accrue to the nation and by extension to fellow Guyanese.
This attitude of breaking the law is now a part of our culture and affects every aspect of our lives in a really big way, though no one seems to care much since it has now become the normal way of life at personal and business levels. For example when you see some of the huge buildings going up which are basically sustained by the same old George-town infrastructure, but are of proportions that clearly do not comply with our bylaws, you realize that corruption, a byproduct of low standards is at work.
This ‘don’t give a damn’ attitude is so commonplace that both lawmakers and others are immune and are in fact squarely at the root of the epidemic by encouraging and sustaining it for personal gain.
The dropping of standards has cost us much more than the state of the economy, which of course is the main reason it preforms so badly. People are unable to ride out the lows since the very systems which are supposed to help them do so are severely damaged from the impact of our low standards which have now transformed the nation into one of corruption.
Whenever I mention corruption a common response is, “But there is corruption all over the world,” as if that makes it ok. We no longer take pride in doing our best but are in fact satisfied with the basic average. Our run-down structures and infrastructure, the way we do business, customer service, law and order, environment and most of the basic day-to-day things that other nations take pride in we no longer notice, while some are resigned to saying, “This is Guyana, what you ex-pect?” We have to change our ways and expect and demand the return of high standards or we will continue to be a disrespected backwater nation.
It beats me as to how this new government will bring about “change” when it has this hardened mental attitude to deal with. I feel that while they mean well it is imperative that programmes are put in place to deal with the situation. Simplistic as it may sound it has to start at elementary school level and while this can take at least a generation before it starts to take root, a determined national effort has to be made. Alongside a good academic education, high social standards and behaviour must be taught in classrooms to produce a new generation of rounded Guy-anese who will really make the kind of difference and change we need to move forward and beyond that which we presently are.
We saw that “change” was possible; now let’s raise the bar and aim for high standards.
Yours faithfully,
Bernard Ramsay
