Dear Editor,
Two heads are better than one. Where the thinking reservoir of a nation is narrowed to one head, [along with other heads that are committed to thinking identically], I admit that some value could be had, but much more could be lost. Since Guyanese at many levels are now culturally inclined like never before to mimic American expressions, attitudes, and ways, I do my part and deliver what suits the occasion. The four-eye principle is about risk management. It could be about bringing minds together to reap the benefits of collective experience (pluses and minuses), and collective wisdom. I am a strong believer that to get to management by consensus, there first must be the trials of management by conflict. When issues are ventilated honestly, the company is better. The same applies to a country, the people are better for what results.
Where am I going with all this? How does this apply here? What could all of this mean for a place like Guyana groping for strength and sagacity in many areas? Proper and robust oil management. Governance credibility. Systems and practices that are subjected to constant rigor (enhancement). Neutralizing the Venezue-lan crisis. Discovering and settling for that combination of activities that balances prudence with a controlled appetite for risk. Knowing when to be aggressive and when to be defensive, and that which has as its primary objective the maximizing of returns from what is in hand, by how such is put to work.
Here we have the presence of four men. Two are older than me. All four have held (or hold) the mantle of head of state in this country. No matter how limited, or questionable, they are individually, none of them-older or younger-can be so far gone, so out of it, that they have nothing to offer that could help Guyana. Not a party and its constituency, but a country and its circle of citizenry. It is my unmoving position, that political elders (and there is a fifth one) have the potential for untold positives for this country. But this is a Guyanese reality that should be explored and utilized in an authentic fashion.
A trio or quartet of ‘old heads’ as part of a team of navigators can only aid. After all, I read somewhere that ‘mistakes are the nursery of new ideas.’ Our human assets have been through a gauntlet of fire, which should have resulted in some burnishing. Human assets are not eternal. It would be the height of governance and national wisdom to seek to obtain the best from this dormant but vital presence that could contribute so much to Guyanese.
Oh! One more thing: what could there be more of ‘One Guyana’ than that, especially when there is reconciliation with one’s own? The latter could be taken literally and then more adventurously. Happy Thanksgiving to all, including to our American brethren.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
