Dear Editor,
I share a few passing thoughts on a handful of issues.
All policemen, both seniors and juniors, should be subjected to polygraph tests. Though a work-in-progress, polygraphs provide a paper picture, make men careful, and emphasize the drive toward personal and institutional purification. The issue becomes what to do with those who fail the test, if implemented?
Second, I scoured the two newspapers I buy and read and I am encouraged. There is not a single reported utterance from the venerated leader and the learned general secretary for days on end. No complaints here and I do hope that the self-imposed ban on making laughing stocks of themselves will be extended indefinitely, and society spared the antics, histrionics, and polemics. At first, I noticed that it is a two-man show, akin to the great duos of yesteryear, such as Bud and Lou and Laurel and Hardy. But then the one-time substitute president chimed in on a rather serious issue and the Three Stooges came to mind.
Third, it is good that everyone is writing about traffic these days: no walking space, no driving space, and no parking space. In terms of walking, central and municipal government should work together to take back the pavements; businesses must take their business indoors. Some rightly complain about the poor vendors clogging the passageways. Well, how about those entrepreneurs (more accurately, financial freebooters) who extended the boundaries of their property and threw the walking public in front of the speeding buses. As for driving space, since everyone is in a hurry to get nowhere, I recommend issuing each driver-citizen with a mounted siren and flashing lights. This way, all can clear a pathway in style and with minimum inconvenience. There will be the benefit of no more horns. Regarding parking space, Guyanese need to realize that they cannot park inside the store any longer.
They need to practise the fine art of walking and shed the sloth and the pounds. This helps with mental conditioning.
Now here is one last note. Many are the citizens (not business adventurers) who complain about slowdown, retrenchment, and a dismal outlook, all of which they quickly lay at the feet of the new government. Well, they cannot have it both ways.
It is either the uninhibited flow of dirty dollars, as it was previously, and all the social plagues that were unleashed, or an attempt at sanitizing the money stables, while aiming for clean business practices. This could mean a lot on the plus side for this country re crime in general, violent crimes, gun crimes, corruption, tax evasion, institutional taint, and public servant pollution, among a host of ills.
A level commercial playing field is required, and the introduction of some degree of ethics and standards. It is time for a choice: the merry old ways, or a cleaner, purer today.
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
