Dear Editor,
One of the most common phrases heard in social and political circles recently is that Guyana is a “divided country.” These clarion cries are mainly made by the opposition and their surrogates. I have lived during the entire tenure of the racist, brutal and oppressive Burnham government. I have never heard any similar claims made by the then PPP opposition, and their supporters. There were no claims from the PPP opposition that their country was divided when their supporters needed a Burnham’s PNC party card for government jobs. They did not make any such claims when the Burnham government forced national service as a condition for attendance to UG or other government assignments. Supporters of the opposition did not question the sovereignty of their country when most forms of job assignments, business and operations were directed to villages and supporters of the Burnham regime including government jobs, post offices, police stations, markets, KSI, stores, government offices etc.
As young school boys who could not afford the full car fare, we witnessed helpful hired car drivers being repeatedly preyed upon by policemen who demanded instant and on the spot bribes. As a sixteen year old I was arrested and jailed for three days at the B.V Police station, for playfully removing Burnham’s propaganda from a telephone pole for his 1978 referendum. My headmaster, from Chateau Margot Primary School, was spitefully transferred across the Demerara River to Vreed-en-Hoop because he did not attend a local political party meeting. He would die shortly thereafter, one year before his retirement. For more than 20 long years, almost every facet of living and life in Guyana was controlled by Burnham’s dictatorial dominion. Burnham’s party was the government, and it was dominated by one race of Guyanese. Almost nothing could be accomplished without paying bribes and homage to the Burnham regime, or their operatives. And still, there was no protest that the “country was divided”.
There were countless incidents of racism, favoritism, trials and tribulations that the PPP and their supporters endured under the tyrannical Burnham regime. But there were no organized protests, calls to ‘shut the government down’, or “boots on the ground”. They were too busy scraping by, trying to provide for themselves and their families. Today through hard work, determination and sacrifices, the PPP and its supporters triumphantly dominate echelons of government, business and wealth in Guyana. And they are still not complaining, and saying that “the country is divided”.
Sincerely,
Chitrakha Persaud
