Latest update November 8th, 2024 1:00 AM
Feb 15, 2011 Editorial
Yesterday, Guyanese decked themselves in the colour of Valentine’s Day. Many spent the day in a special manner either taking their companions to lunch or dinner or ensured that they gave something special. Chocolate is often the gift of choice since most women would forego anything for a large box of chocolate.
And especially since the experts now find that chocolate is beneficial, one would have expected that lovers, especially women, would have snacked to their heart’s delight.
There were the parties that would have attracted the lovers or those seeking to fall in love. And the colour of choice, as could be expected, would have been red and white. Indeed the city was a sea of red and white with people either to or from work porting these colours.
Business would have been bright in the days leading up to yesterday and the coffers of the Guyana Revenue Authority would have been suitably enhanced. All in all, for the majority yesterday was as it should be. Romances bloomed and others flourished. But it was not all good. Two people who held pride of place in the society died just as people were professing their love for each other.
Former Police Commissioner, Henry Fraser, who started community policing and the once dreaded IMPACT group, died in the wee hours of St Valentine’s Day. He was one of those who came through the ranks and knew what was required of the police. He spoke of there being no shortcuts, of meticulous investigative work, of policemen being forced to be policemen and thus command the respect of the society.
Just weeks before his death he had cause to criticise the operations of the Guyana Police Force. Mr Fraser spoke of the recruits having to appear in public in their uniform and nothing else for the first three years of their tenure, of stalled promotions, and dedicated work.
It was not that he was ill and bedridden. Rather, he was heading a consultancy and managing his farm right up to the time of his death. He might have alienated himself from the current hierarchy of the force because of his criticisms but when all is said and done, for those of us who today accept what passes for policing, Mr Fraser showed another light. His wife and associates would always remember St Valentine’s Day 2011.
Then there was former First Lady Joyce Hoyte. She too died on St Valentine’s Day 2011. She had been ailing for a few weeks, ever since she sustained a fall in her home where she dwelled alone. She was the epitome of how one should face disaster, being no stranger to disaster.
On the eve of Labour Day 1985, she was involved in a horrific smash up that claimed the life of her two daughters. The family was going to Linden where her husband, former President Desmond Hoyte, was to address a rally.
She recovered and watched her husband take on the mantle of leadership in Guyana. She was there when he collapsed with a heart attack and had to be flown overseas for open heart surgery. And if that was not enough she was there when he died in her arms a few years later. She maintained her stoicism to the end, at one stage even asking for death when she thought that the troubles of the world were overwhelming.
She was not the garrulous type but she was a keen follower of national developments, perhaps a carryover from the days when she was First Lady.
So on the day when the nation was celebrating love two leading lights moved on, one to be with the people she loved and the other to join his predecessors who served when the Guyana Police Force was all about policing.
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