Dear Editor,
On Wednesday last week (22nd February), an ugly partisan confrontation, which says nothing in favour of the principals involved, took place between the Chairman of Region 4, Mr. Daniel Seeram, and the Regional Executive Officer (REO), Mr. Donald Gajraj, at an event that what was supposed to be a non-partisan national event in celebration of Mashramani. What occurred was filmed, widely transmitted on Facebook, subjected to a number of letters in the press and, very sadly, represents the abject failure of some of our leading politicians to understand the consequences of their actions and the damage that they do to our people and our country in dividing us.
In absolute contrast, when enjoying an overnight last Friday at Splashmins, after dinner, I watched a combined group of about 20 nurses and teachers together playing games around a bon fire. They were from Berbice. They were both Indian and African Guyanese. For me, they represented who we really are. They were the epitome of what President Ali means when he speaks of One Guyana. Needless to say, what occurred at the Region 4 Mashramani event should never have happened. To his credit, Mr. Seeram, speaking as Chairman, spoke well. He spoke first of “social cohesion”. He spoke of Region 4 as a diverse community transcending the boundaries of race, religion and the background of the varying political parties. He recognized the present and past Minister of Health who were present at the meeting.
He went on to say that he detested “petty politics, immature politics in this day and age”. He said he shakes the hands of all stakeholders who are willing to work together to make Guyana better. He made a call for us all to shake hands and work together. He called for everyone to walk in the same direction. He made the point that if we are all in the same boat and paddle in different directions we would be going nowhere very quickly. He recognized representatives from the government and from the opposition under what he described as “this big tent”. He claimed a mantra of unity and pledged that as long as he was there they would work through their differences while recognizing that “democracy is messy”. It was the right speech for the right time.
Mr. Seeram then went on to claim credit for any consultation leading to decisions, but it was shortly after making that point that he, in fact, as my enquiries later revealed, departed entirely from the programme agreed upon between himself and REO Gajraj, doing exactly the opposite. Having concluded his speech and thanked everyone, Seeram suddenly and surprisingly sought to introduce Parliamentarian Cathy Hughes to speak, offering the excuse that there was no female on the programme, introducing an unscheduled political advocate from an opposition party to which Mr. Seeram happens to belong.
Immediately, Mr. Gajraj, who was standing behind Mr. Seeram, stepped forward to take the mic from Mr. Seeram who held on to the mic and stepped away, resulting in the most unseemly exhibition of these two senior politicians wrestling over its possession. Gajraj clearly intended that Cathy Hughes should not speak. Not surprisingly, the APNU+AFC has sought to make political mileage from the incident claiming that the REO’s action was the antithesis of “One Guyana”, and, indeed, it was. It transpires, however, that this is not the first time that Mr. Seeram has sought to “hijack”, according to the PPP, an agreed agenda for political purpose. Mr. Donald Gajraj, instead of rising above the political gamesmanship, lost his cool, took the bait and behaved foolishly.
What might otherwise have been a truly commendable national event, proved to be yet another example of the intolerable failure of some of our political leaders to grasp the opportunity for putting nation and people before party politics. I suspect that neither the leadership of the PPP nor the PNC will agree with me, that both Seeram and Gajraj should bury the hatchet, apologize to each other, shake hands and follow the example of the nurses and teachers I enjoyed watching just being Guyanese around the bon fire living and playing together.
Sincerely,
Kit Nascimento
Editor’s Note: This letter should have been published in Thursday’s SN Edition. We regret and apologize for the omission.
