Dear Editor,
Best wishes to the new Mayor of Georgetown, Alfred Mentore on his taking the reins for the city. The same warm hand is stretched out to all other members of the council of Georgetown, encircling both PNC and PPP presences. City dwellers, visitors, could use a vibrant, functioning mayoralty and city council; one unhampered as much by politics, one that produces. Our capital city, our image, our residents would be better. Mayor Mentore said the right first words, about working together and colours don’t matter. They suited the occasion, sounded right.
Unfortunately, that was all, for reality emerged, and things fell apart. Inevitably. Almost, as if ordained. I commend Mayor Mentore for wanting to and appealing to other councilors to work together. It is taken at face value. The PNC at higher leadership levels cannot speak (rightly) about the need for inclusion in Guyana, and then turn around and stand wrongly, strongly, for exclusion in those places where it has the upper hand, like GT. It does not matter what the PPP did, or is doing. Make a start. Set the example. Be the precedent. It is my position that the Deputy Mayor of Georgetown should have been extracted from the ranks of PPP councilors. As a gesture of goodwill and good intentions, there would have been none better.
Now chew on this: there is none better at playing those spiteful games than the PPP; none better equipped at fostering and then getting away with that culture. This plays right into the PPP hands, with returning the favour by the dozen. How long the partisan? Division destroys Guyana, with perpetuation guaranteed. It is about time that both sides start thinking of going in a different direction, if only for the good of the populace. Think and then do. Why not reach for the PPP’s hand by calling for a nomination from that side of the council aisle. I don’t see that as a political move, but as one loaded with pragmatism, with the slightest opening towards possibly new beginnings, greater things that could lift all up and lead somewhere different. Let the de facto leader of the PPP refuse. PPP councilors should be on key committees to observe and participate in clean city governance, determine who is not. They must prove their own cleanliness.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
