Dear Editor,
I write with reference to a letter from Dr. Baytoram Ramharack titled “In our multiethnic society, all must play an inclusive role in our national defence” which appeared in the online edition of your newspaper on July 30, 2021. I suspect that the title given to the letter was the result of an editorial decision. If so, the title did not capture the essence of the letter as the writer’s important reference to imbalance in the private sector was totally missed. I almost skipped the letter as a first glance at the title suggested that the letter was another divisive diatribe from a frequent letter-writer. I am always concerned about calls for balance in the security and public service sectors which ignore the situation in the private sector. So I began reading the letter with some degree of angst. In his letter, Dr. Ramharack suggests that the “preponderance of Indians in the private sector especially in business and agriculture, was due to Indian exclusion from the state sector by the colonial administration” but fails to mention the well-documented exclusion of Afro-Guyanese from the private sector by the same colonial administration. Notwithstanding this vital omission, Dr. Ramharack does bravely suggest “an affirmative action program to increase African-Guyanese and Indigenous Peoples’ participation in farming, business and other government-sponsored programs”. Whenever I raise the issue of some form of affirmative action publicly, many of my friends, including some Afro-Guyanese, cringe. In fact, I may have lost a friend or two for speaking out on this and similar issues. Consequently, I am happy to see an Indo-Guyanese academic recognize the imbalance in the private sector as a matter to be addressed through government policy. For this Dr. Ramharack must be commended. It is an urgent matter as current developments in the oil and gas sector are likely to increase this imbalance exponentially. I hope that this contribution from Dr. Ramharack serves as a catalyst for the development of meaningful and effective policies to address the imbalance in ALL sectors in Guyana. These imbalances are lesions on our Guyanese society.
Sincerely,
Terrence Campbell