“Assisting” our “Independence”
Even though today’s should be among my most brief, I suspect, nay, I know, that again I’m stepping into waters I know little about (their depth). This is better left to those steeped in philosophy the psychology of human behaviour and the study of power.
But I write for my own peers who are, in the majority, the working-class unlettered man/woman- in – the-street. Our street-wise. Education-often complemented by academics too – allows us to consider life’s concepts as they affect human behaviour. Indeed, radical behavioural change. I’ve done a fair share of reading over my decades, I’ve been exposed to lofty lectures and benefited from study tours; I love the arts. But I leave the quotations and fine writing to others. And I do have a right to wonder.
As today, my peers, I ramble about minds, authority and power.
Authority resides in many. And through a variety of means. This power to influence thought, direct or require certain actions and behaviours can flow from statutes, municipal regulations, parliamentary rules, church canon, accepted moral, tribal principles and other legal, constitutional, traditional guidelines. Often some type of leader is put in authoritative positions or status. And some don’t ever allow “lesser mortals” to forget or de-recognise their authority.
Church leaders, permanent secretaries, CEO’s, police/military officers, municipal officers, village officials all are vested with some form of authority to exercise over others, and that should be done for the overall common good. Right?
Power, to me frankly speaking, is a higher level of authority- It does include authority but real effective “power” is defined by an “ascendancy over others”; it can be absolute sometimes as in dictators and their regimes; even royalty exercises sovereign power (when it should reside in the majority). Constitutions and governmental orders also distribute certain administrative power(s)
And how do (once humble) persons handle authority and power?
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Our own temporary
powerful persons
Who enjoys power or authority – however temporary – more? The village leader? The politician? The MP? The Government minister? The church’s Bishop? The Corporation Head?
And what do they like most about that status? The status/position itself? The perks and benefits power brings? Or just the knowledge and fact of being in charge- or superior?
As you spare time to consider all the questions above, observe some of our current authorities and powers. How do they conduct, cope or flaunt? Under- pressure Vice- President Khemraj likes to remind us of his “powers”- from 2:00am bar closures to granting prisoners release.
Others quote the constitution or municipal acts to flaunt their “authority”. Always pay attention to our esteemed, learned Attorney-General. Consider how Ministers Jordan, Bulkan and Harmon “report” to us – their voter- supporters. And think about how the President and the Vice-President- Prime Minister exercise power. Silently
Oh, and which Ministers/Regional Chairmen act arrogantly, or just assertively?
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Discuss…
No hope before I die?
Just two Fridays ago I wrote about my losing hope and my fading faith. I was/am relatively beaten. I have succumbed to accepting that certain qualities of a reasonable standard of life will not happen here during my (remaining) life span.
That declaration caught the attention of some of my fans – and peers, in terms of age. Sixty/seventy plus. If I should pass away by next week or next year, I am reasonably certain that Guyanese citizens will not experience the following in this, their own, country.
As stated two weeks ago, our capital city will remain disorderly with no real regulation of vendors, no effective parking arrangements, no beautification or landscaping of our main square, Stabroek. Citizens will never enjoy safe comfortable transportation in bigger buses. Boat terminals will remain primitive. For high-class customer-friendly service (except at NBS, GBTI Water Street and Bounty Supermarket, Regent Street) Guyanese customers will have to travel overseas.
This APNU administration- like all past post-Independence governments will never oversee a continuous dependable supply of electricity as enjoyed by modern civilized societies. Litigants will never receive early trials or judges’ decisions. Judges are all-powerful in this latter regard. Unlike Cuba, we will never fashion new laws and comprehensive programmes to rid our small society of street-vagrants.
The City Council of the Capital will never acquire loans to own completely the Parking Meters. (If the council wholly owned those meters, it could charge most reasonably and the takings could have been all theirs for all time!) Government workers will never know a living wage and pensioners will never know true retirement but must/will work until they drop!
Pessimistic? Yes! Even as I remind that the Brigadier’s APNU has had only two (2) of the fifty-one (51) years since independence, I would love to be proven wrong with my doleful predictions. You see, I don’t know if I’ll be around to see the oil gushing out of EXXON’s Wells. So tell me how wrong I was. After I pass away. Will our current Dot.com generation remain in Guyana as I did all my life? Discuss…
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Ponder, consider…
- Space has run out for my other issue stated at the top. Years ago Dr Ptolemy Reid reminded the United Nations Assembly that we live in an Inter-dependent world. Just witness international aid and trade. How “independent” can Guyana be? More next time.
- Name 7 Departments of the Ministry of the
Presidency.
- Name 17 Departments of the Government
- Coming next Friday – The President’s
reasons- and The Prisoner and The Warder.
- Hail the Vice-Chancellor’s Bow-tie!
’Til next week!
(allanafenty@yahoo.com)
