Dear Editor,
An influential Indian critic described the central bank head of that country, Raghuram Rajan, as “mentally not fully Indian.” I have some reservations about that, but have none when the same applies to many Guyanese. That is they are “mentally not fully Guyanese.”
Professor Rajan is a respected academic and a one-time international public servant, who needs no introduction. The problem is his US residency, and his lengthy Western association and the consternation this caused in high political circles. Still, the man’s tenure and results speak volumes about his dedication and his giving to his homeland at a time of need and distress. I applaud him.
Before I go further, it should be disclosed that I, too, have long Western association, believe in market orientation, and appreciate democratic practices and traditions. That could very well make me suspect here, but I persevere quietly. With this out of the way, what can be said of fellow citizens and about them being ‘mentally not fully Guyanese’?
First, there are present in the midst African-Guyanese and Indian-Guyanese. The question is which takes priority? Which part of the hyphenation comes first? Which assumes mental ascendancy, and completely so? Local circumstances indicate that the answers resonate with certain formidable attitudes and visions; these underscore the superior hold of ethnic heritage versus that artificial construct labelled patriotism. Patriotism may be trumpeted loudly, but it is trumped in the crunch by tribal ties that supersede love of country, and sacrificing for country. These are now jaded abstractions best reserved for academic dissection, rather than the heartfelt connection of an indefinable, irreversible blood tie to the soil. A few characteristic examples from the domestic realm ought to assist.
There are those Guyanese who once either sat in parliament, or campaigned in elections, or pushed voters to do their bidding. Once the tide turned, these same pathetic patchwork patriots headed for green lands. They go with (or to) a lot of green harvested from the financial system. It is not grass. There are many within this extensive penumbra of mentally not fully Guyanese, who take off when circumstances militate against more reaping and stockpiling.
Then there are those who come with a load of green, a dirty tinged green, to do this and that, usually for themselves, themselves only. Where is flag and country in the bustle of these endeavours, when the emphasis is on extracting, exploiting, and extorting by these pseudo-patriots? Here are men who look to enfeeble further an already weak society. Clearly, what is good and uplifting for this country is nowhere in the calculations of many who wander around here, and seek to take care of their own interests first, foremost, and always. I submit that they are mentally fully Guyanese, as much as Baishanlin ever was, and may ever aspire to be.
These are the goers and comers, the Guyanese in name only, the Guyanese of rank opportunism and crass calculations, who are here when the going is good, and who get going when it is otherwise.
Let me be clear: I understand the poor and lowly seeking to escape the stagnating confines of the barn. For them, it is only about self-preservation and getting a toe on the bottom rung. But as for the loud separators, the commercial mongers, the political hustlers, and others of this broad, likeminded, self-serving class, being mentally not fully Guyanese is an accurate portrait, and a revealingly damning one at that. When aggregated it becomes clearer as to why this country and its peoples are where they are. There are just too many who drain it to float themselves.
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall