Dear Editor,
Dr. Randolph B Persaud in SN of 2023-03-14 named me among a set of people and organisations who ought to condemn Mr. Ogunseye for his remarks. I was not looking for votes, so he seems to be giving me ideas. I am only one person with no more than the usual 24 hours per day, so I do not get to hear stuff like Mr. Ogunseye’s speech; but I believe the Stabroek News, who wrote about it, and a (possible mutual) colleague, Ley-land Chitlall Roopnarine, with whose opinion of it in the Guyana Times of March 15 I concur.
Is Dr. Persaud using the tactic of requiring critics of some of this Government’s policies to be commentators on everything? If so, on whose behalf is he doing it? I reply to him. He should reply to me in an equally public manner and say clearly if he is working for the Government or in the pay or favour of any government politician; because he has only recently appeared on the local scene, and I have been criticizing government policies since Mr. Burnham’s time. I have not changed, like the WPA.
I never required him or anyone else to be a commentator on anything, but if Dr. Persaud and those of his ilk are as omniscient as they seem to require me and many others to be, they should also condemn the Guyana Chronicle and the Guyana Times for allowing a writer to call me ‘treasonous’ in their letter columns while denying me a response. Even if I wanted to, I do not have the money to take such people to court, because I tried to live an honest life in this country and did not play the lottery.
I also do not see Dr. Persaud requesting this Government to be transparent in their dealings with the petroleum and other extractive industries. If he can take President Ali’s utterances of transparency and accountability at face value and remain unmoved by the chasm with reality, then he is either a confidante or is not worth further intellectual consideration.
Sincerely,
Alfred Bhulai
