Dear Editor,
Can Guyanese ever agree on something again? What hopes exist that there ever again will be some degree of consensus on anything at the political level? Though not a pessimist, and my betting days are history, I would place money that agreement may elude for the next 30 years. Why 30 years? Because the current crop of pols should be in their dotage and with the caveat that this country still exists as is known today. Take this matter of the $100,000 election once-for-all payout. It is the latest textbook case that says so much about Guyana.
The Opposition has claimed credit, pointing to its origins with Professor Clive Thomas. I pointed to the same source on a program and in writings, if only to acknowledge the author of that proposal, albeit with different numbers, and even as I had harboured doubts about it. Acknowledging and crediting were the right things to do, whether for or against. Now, the government, in the person of Vice President Jagdeo, has come forward to object to and dismiss Professor Clive Thomas’s lineage relative to cash grants. Dr. Jagdeo is adamant: we, the PPP Government, were the first with that vision. An earlier opposition rebuttal had pointed to President Dr. Irfaan Ali dissing calls for cash aid to Guyanese as a bad measure by any standards. There is no finger pointed at anyone.
But this must be said, for if it is not done, then the learning that should follow will always pass by and leave in the dust. The things Guyanese do, the places they go, only dig a deeper and deeper hole in which to bury themselves. While as a writer there is more than passing acquaintance with copyright protection, there are some occasions that hearts must be big enough to be comfortable allowing some things to go. What’s the point that is proved? What is the harm or foul that is inflicted? I may have it all wrong, my head in the mud, but is it of such existential importance that original proprietorship of the cash grant transforms into a life and death issue?
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
