Dear Editor,
Earlier I referred to RBO Hart’s popular column titled “Things that bother me.” What bothers me is our pursuit by a Government of matters anathema to the essence of decency and democracy. So, the Government has gone ahead to establish a Commission of Enquiry into what has been punctuated as the attempt to rig the 2020 General & Regional Elections. What bothers me is that I grew up and was tutored by British-English masters who taught us to take pride in the use and nuances of the English Language. To use the word ‘rig,’ in an official document is strange particularly in circumstances where to the best of my knowledge is if a person, group or party is dissatisfied with the declared results of a National Election, the accepted route was to proceed by way of an Election petition.
Beyond that, it is unclear whether the purported terms of reference of this Commission will include an examination and or an explanation for all of us taking part in the 2020 General & Regional Elections using a list that is bloated, unreal and could not represent the demographics of Guyana. A recipe for confusion. So we are proceeding with a Commission where all members were appointed by the looming oligarchy, so we are a lopsided and one-sided exercise intended to coincide with a current propaganda blitz. The architects, the Government in office, not known to respect and comply with the High Court. Recall the 1961 Elections petition for the Houston Constituency. The High Court annulled the declared results and ordered a Bi-Election. For years, the PPP refused offering no explanation to hold that Bi-Election. Three cheers for democracy, now a chameleon word in Guyana.
Next, instead of pursuing serious allegations made by Detective-Sergeant Bascom, he is hauled before the Courts and charged for cyber-crime. All the while, our Guyana Police Force cannot solve the assassination, murder, killing, you take your pick, of Paper Shorts. So with speed, we pursue a whistleblower but lack the competence or is it willingness to go after the assassin who committed the most serious of crimes known to mankind. So here we are in Guyana where a member of the Bar could allegedly call an ordinary Afro Guyanese Security Guard a derogative term. Private charges were laid and the DPP withdrew that charge. Are we certifying that Guyana is wobbling precariously on an unjust system where one group is above the law and the other group can get no justice?
Next with oil companies obtaining extremely high prices for our oil, fueled by Ukraine-Russian situation and with prices with every item imported and local rising daily, while our Government could not increase, and I have said double the wages and salaries of every public sector employee, so that those men and women, Policemen, Soldiers, Firemen, Teachers, Clerks, Cleaners, etc., who are in the engine-room and bearing the heat could not get some relief hearing how well we’re doing with this oil riches. New roads and bridges, schools and hospitals, new air-strips, look and sound good, but it still hurts when we have to pay more for our fruits, vegetables, rice, sugar and transportation. For this condition speaks to the deeper and more pernicious condition of injustice. This is a matter that no one concerned about the integrity and future of our country can ignore.
Sincerely,
Hamilton Green
Elder
