Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Mar 10, 2013 Letters
Dear Editor,
It is with grave concern about what passes as logic or logical thinking in what I consider as a decadent Guyanese society that I have decided to submit this letter for your publication.
To wit I am referring to the article which appeared in the Stabroek News front page of 15th February 2013 with regard to the Bill passed in Parliament attached to the furtherance, and contribution to the independence of a number of Commissions in their performance in the public interest. I am appalled at the misplaced logic voiced in opposition to the passage of the said Bill.
Mr. Editor a learned relative of mine continues to quote – thus ‘that things have been wrong for so long that what is right now seems wrong’ and I ask what in God’s name is the reason for the opposition to the intent of the Bill by any decent logical thinking individual.
Mr. Editor, I would have liked to hear what my esteemed English teacher Mr. RE Cheeks and a former member of Parliament would have pronounced about the sordid level of debate in opposition to the passing of the Bill apart from such being a good example of gobbledygook.
In my attempt to analyze the mood of the House on a Bill which should have attracted and justified bipartisan support, I am reminded of statement made by Sir Donald Jackson in May 1961 when in a conversation he remarked that ‘Parliament (Guyana) would be poorer when people like Mr. Balram Singh Rai would not be seen on its benches as they represent what was best in parliament democracy, decency, good governance and government’-`Against the grain Balram Singh Rai and the Politics of Guyana ‘ by Dr. B. Ramharack. Mr. Editor, I wish to use the analogy of blatant mediocrity which pervades our society. I make reference to the hullabaloo being made about a four-lane highway on the East Bank of Demerara. Where is the road/highway being made wider at the concentration of communities as at Diamond to allow for service roads and differently black topped dedicated entrance and exit lanes?
These lanes when established and properly marked would allow through-traffic to move unhindered from diverting traffic even if the law of Imminent Domain has to be implemented.
Secondly, could you imagine the President and First Lady traveling to an international forum in the company of other dignitaries and are intransit at a Five Star Hotel where at the sign-in desk the clerk greets our President and First lady as uncle and auntie or grandfather and mother while addressing the other dignitaries as Sir or Madam as appropriate. Would my President take offence at the greeting? After, all it is the norm for sometime now at home. For Guyanese the words Mister/Sir, Madam/lady have been conveniently eradicated from the spoken language.
Mr. Editor, Guyana ‘Quo Vadis’-’Whither goest thou’. If the Administration in Georgetown and elsewhere in Guyana has to impose and enforce Draconian laws akin to those implemented by a former Prime Minister of Singapore to sensitize its citizens of that city about maintaining a clean environment, then so be it. Albeit provided that the requisite infrastructure and support is in place. I would find it difficult to accept as normal the grossly untidy condition and the smelly gutters bordering a once pleasant Bourda Green and Market to be able to comfortably sit a stone’s throw on the Mall opposite a Church and get involved in the revelry of Mash. Just observe the lack of symmetry on the lateral axis of speed bumps which tells you how opposed we are to things which are basic and pleasant to the eye. With all the accidents on the Linden Highway and interior roads there is no requirement put in place for vehicles to be equipped with emergency traffic cones to function as warning signals when a vehicle breaks down and constitutes a hazard. Why?
With regard to the number of accidents in our riverain areas there was a time when Sub-Wardens attached to the Lands and Mines Department, chaired examinations attached to adherence to the River Navigation Act to test the knowledge of the regulations and the navigation skills of prospective river captains. Moreso, there has been the need for years to put a mechanism in place to ensure that boats are equipped with adequate approved flotation devices, and monitored for compliance. This has not garnered any urgency by the authorities.
Mr. Editor, the importance of the mandatory Annual Confidential Report (ACR) to be completed in years gone by in respect of every public servant was relevant to the upward climb in a public servant’s career. From being able to write a concise minute, then a memorandum and finally a cabinet paper tested the educational background and promotional qualification for career success. But the legacies of Messers Martin De Abreu or Fitz Dorway and Barry Vigilance Permanent Secretaries among others, who had set a standard for overall conduct in a professional civil service has been diluted and tainted. Yes, tainted to the extent where a Public Servant could be overheard asking for a raise to buy ‘a food’- not a meal or a lunch. It is very exasperating when one has grown accustomed to a superior environment.
The vulgarity is continually starting from the cradle. The little boy wending his way to kindergarten school and whose hand was being held by an adult or looking back at a waste removal truck was advised by the elder that the truck was pumping ‘sh*t’ not waste matter or faeces. There is a marked absence of finesse and elegance in the society. Money doesn’t buy it.
Mr. Editor, there are issues which we must face up to like the social fallout of 3000 female school students dropping out of school annually because they become pregnant, even though a number of them will eventually be trained to become another generation of pavement entrepreneurs. When are we going to conduct a survey to determine how many male school dropouts, say, in the last five to ten years, have come afoul of the criminal law. There was a time when there was a stigma attached to children born out of wedlock when they could not have been considered for the award of a County Scholarship. We may frown on these antediluvian days but can we honestly accept a TV station advertising a social affair with the violent vibration of a woman’s’ derriere as an attraction. But there was the time in this country when a lady rode a Velocette motorcycle and had a weighted butterfly to keep the front of her skirt down.
How can members of a Discipline Force charged with involvement in a serious or a capital offence, even though found not guilty, be not retired in the public interest with the bare minimum of benefits. Is it because there is widespread white colour crime where the offenders go unpunished or just let off due to the proverbial ‘not enough evidence found’. Are they not shunned by those who are beyond reproach. Oh for those days when we could have listened to Honest John on Sundays of 11:00am or ZFY/Radio Demerara extolling the virtues of honesty and integrity within our society.
The statement by an esteemed gentleman that there is inelegance even in the Court environment took a lot of guts by one who would know what existed in decades gone by.
The slide has continued and the gutter continues to be filled with trench mud mixed with fresh cow dung.
Aubrey Alexander
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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