Dear Editor,
I was present at the recently held graduation ceremony of the St Rose’s High School where President Granger gave a speech to the graduating class of 2017. What I witnessed was nothing short of mind boggling in terms of the level of security amassed around the President during his time at the school. Army officers too numerous to count and heavily weaponized guarded the building. It reminded me of a recent event at Queen’s College where new students were asked to be present in the auditorium to hear the President speak. Their parents were kept outside in the yard for almost two hours. When the President arrived heavily armed officers were stationed at all the doorways to the auditorium and in and around the school. Parents were told they could no longer enter the auditorium whilst the President was in attendance. When questioned, the school administrators advised that a school rule dating back to colonial times was being invoked.
Can you imagine such a drama playing out before your eyes? It would be comedy if it was not tragic that so much effort and resources are being put into this silly pomp and ceremony whilst people in this country struggle to live on a pittance.
What is extraordinary about all of this is the recognition by most that the President was just the other day an ordinary man struggling to keep his news magazine The Guyana Review going. So why the attempt to create some mystique around him? Is this heavy handedness a strategy to have us poor ordinary people in awe and equally afraid of him?
Come on, this is 2017 and much has changed in the minds of the people. We are no longer slaves to the type of thinking of the dictatorship era. Men are not gods no matter how many guns surround them. The President really ought to be sensible and stop the foolishness.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address provided)
