Dear Editor,
Compromise. It is a dirty word in Guyana, one that harbours the dangerous in the mere mention of it. I do. Did before, must do so again. The Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) dared to put compromise on the table. Instead of saying, what took so long, I applaud and say this: be ready with the concrete, but with a difference. Its stiff texture must possess some flexibility. To cut off any avenue of misunderstanding, there should be willingness to be still more compromising. But only when that first GTU icebreaker, an overture creating the opening for partnership and cooperation, is responded to in kind. What sayest thou, dear Government of Guyana?
Compromise. It is an out of character development in characterless Guyana. Since I am saying so much, the mufflers are removed for a quick moment. When I see honest character, principled character, in national political leadership (and other kinds), then I shall be the first to curtsy in recognition. Though compromise is out of character in Guyana, it must become our national culture step by step, one day at a time, and by the millimeter. See even I am adjusting from pound, shilling, and pence. In a society that is raw and numbingly and determinedly polarized, we had better be ready to compromise along the way. Or this cooperative republic could degrade into more than a subject for unending ridicule, it can become one that is of barren desolation.
The GTU is holding fast to the years gone by where collective bargaining agreement, and the right to one, was studiously unraveled. To forego the lost years of X and Y percentages would be to put a feather in the unconstitutional cap. Give grounds for a return of the same unilateral impositions in the future. Provide a thoughtless precedent for the unconstitutional to take on the mantle of the constitutional. The PPP Government of President Ali has a rubber ball in its court. It can roll it gently back with some writing that is higher than 6.5% and whatever else there were before. I would hope that in a spirit of true reciprocal compromise that there is no tossing it back by President Ali into the teeth of President Lyte. That would reek of a steadfast unwillingness to march towards a point of consensus. Consensus that received momentum from compromise that sparks cooperation that leads to a healthy conclusion. It is how wise and reasonable men and women respond, what they make their duty when so much is at stake. Would it be blasphemy to say aloud in the public domain: let us not forget to remember the children? And though it may be considered both untimely and unholy, I think that it is time that there is a stoppage to the never-ending efforts to build new wedges and drive old ones into a society that is spiked with them. In the middle of writing that sentence, the thought came about why is there, should there be, this fear about working towards a unified society? Sincerely and beyond the hollow brick platitudes of oneness and togetherness and harmoniousness that assault and pillage the intelligence of every Guyanese. Does a genuinely unified society pose a code amber threat to usurpers of the national endowments? Those questions must be left alone today, for on this day the thrusts are towards compromise, and what can be squeezed out of it. Some good faith could inspire some goodwill.
There is too much bad blood in this country with a big blood bank holding the deposits of every Guyanese. None is exempted, not even self. It is time for some good tidings to come in this venture labeled compromise. As Guyanese say, waan haan caan clap. Over to you, Dr. Excellency.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
