Dear Editor,
For years and decades under different governments, we have heard about ‘political’ appointments and the fate of such public servants when there is a change of the political guard. In the last two years, give or take, under this government, the screams against political appointments have risen to a fever pitch, as if it is a new leprosy, a peculiar virus unknown to this society. One highly qualified Guyanese public servant after another has been booted. Though there have been the racial that blankets the politically charged retributions, there is so much more that have not been touched upon, regarding these cleansing actions. I take this beyond the usual clearing out to those areas that I have not heard addressed to date, and the wide-ranging implications for the ambience of this society.
Editor, when these so-called political appointments are held up to public humiliation through identification and selection for termination, there is more than tarring and feathering, and running out of town. Those are the physical and occupational hazards experienced by those targeted, now an established part of Guyanese territory. This has been so under the PNC and the PPP; while both sides add insult to injury by speaking of the democratic and constitutional, and what is fair and just. As in almost everything else, they engage in the worst of shallow pretenses, when they put qualified and patriotic Guyanese to the bureaucratic sword, and cheer themselves for a good job done, and good riddance. Except that the actions don’t end there.
What the jettisoning of so-called political appointments do is go against a number of things that we say we are about. Democratic and constitutional ideals and provisions respectively. First, when a competent, untainted public servant is dismissed for his or her politics, this violates their freedom of assembly. Second, there is a de facto prevention of freedom of association (and choice) when Guyanese are fired under the flag of political appointment. Third, when they are axed, under the same pretext, rulers have just curtailed their freedom of speech, which I interpret to mean that they can’t say ‘I am for or about a side’ that is different or found objectionable to those deciding their fate. Fourth, and worse still, when public servants are separated from the flock of bureaucrats, their very freedom of thought is first trickily diluted and then forcefully diminished out of existence.
Editor, as I view this distasteful practice now in full flow about political appointments, I discern an intensifying tyranny over thinking, which incarcerates minds first, then amputates movement towards, a position for, and a thought on behalf of those found encouraging, pleasing, even inspiring. For those who are enlightened and civilized, Solzhenitsyn, Stalinism, and Siberia, and the gulags of the Steppes should connect to known precedents and parallels. My concern is those are not of what was in old Russia and is in the new Russia, but what has seized control right here, and much more now. So, when someone is fired under the banner and bugle of political appointment, let us pause and reflect on how far and deep this reaches in this country. One claiming to be about democracy and constitutional rights and protections, and how far we have progressed in defeating those, and devastating the shaky surface serenity of this society.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
