Dear Editor,
The parliamentary debate now focuses on the budget and related matters. I have been following some of the presentations by parliamentarians on both sides of the house. I wish to express great disappointment that the tone of our parliamentary debate has degenerated. There seems to be a lack of civility and choice of language that is certainly no credit to this generation.
I recall the repartee skill and wit of the likes of Boysie Ramkarran, Sir Shridath Ramphal, T.A. Sancho, Debra Backer, Ranji Chandisingh; these were always enhanced by the skill and alertness of speakers such as the late A.P. Alleyne and Sase Narine. These days for whatever reason, deportment is a lost characteristic and today our speaker has looked in the other direction as the ‘yard fowls’ and ‘sniffer canine cousins’ dominate the scene.
MPs indulge in behaviour bordering on the banal worsened by personal invectives. In the interest of this and succeeding generations, I appeal to our speaker and parliamentarians to lift the level of parliament using language and style that researchers years later, would think of us kindly and with respect, after all; parliament is our highest forum and we don’t expect the lowest.
Many of the parliamentarians, if they can shed this extant arrogance and shortage of knowledge, they can do well to seek counsel from those who have traversed the parliament in the halcyon days of robust cut and thrust, but with dignity and decency.
God save Guyana.
Regards,
Hamilton Green
