Dear Editor,
I had set a ceiling of 300 cases daily as a reasonable level to step out. After, 700, 967, and 1016 cases in an alarming daily parade, it was a relief to learn of over 400 new cases one day. I thought I would settle for 400 as a number with which I am comfortable to get some outside business; that went out the window in a hurry. The newspapers on Wednesday and Thursday reported 665 and 1000 new cases respectively. The official soundbites included ‘no time to panic’ and ‘situation under control.’ I agree with the first, as that doesn’t do anybody any good, and as for the latter, my thinking is unprintable. Both for the words and the source of them, such is my rage and disgust at what we have here for leadership in this country, and at a time like this. In sum, this is the wisdom of a government filled with a combination of youth, experience, education, and wisdom. That is, according to its leaders and players. Nothing contradicts truth and reality more. Nothing rises to the level of the vacuousness of a leader, the extents of whose understanding of what national governance represents are limited to soundbites, some sickly sweet, all pungent and perverse.
Daily, I receive a call relaying that somebody I know has been infected. And daily, there are these absurdities and asininities from the head on down. Oh, and when such reports of infections come, it is sometimes accompanied by the news that a spouse or a child, occasionally a whole household, has been similarly impacted. If all family members haven’t tested positive, then they have to be away from the outside, as in quarantined. Still, these men with so-called doctorates and doctor’s training don’t have the integrity, honesty, and decency to call things as they are. They lack the care and prudence that are essential ingredients for responsible national stewardship. The education ministry is endangering students and adults. Yes, the situation is under control. At a time like this, the government is so arrogant and full of itself that it refuses to engage with the recognized representatives of the teachers. Thus, we have dueling numbers about the percentage of educators that turned up for duty, while national numbers march relentlessly upward. This is not the way to run a school system in the worst of times. Or any system for that matter. I remind the Minister of Health of his Hippocratic Oath, which as he should know, takes precedence over any political loyalty. Of course, I know that I am whistling in the wind and talking to myself. Surely, Guyana did not elect or select, one or the other to pilot the ship of state, only for them to run it aground. Politics must end; some governance must begin. If that is rejected today, then there will be that day when it is compelled by circumstances. Stop imperiling Guyanese with political grandstanding.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
