Latest update May 7th, 2024 12:59 AM
Mar 11, 2019 Letters
MR. EDITOR,
Please permit me to share a conversation that I was part of. At that gathering, I met with some Int’l NGO Reps and two Diplomats who visited Guyana. We were introducing ourselves and I was the second person to do so and mentioned my place of birth Guyana. Immediately one of the representatives of the NGO said, “WOW, you have a beautiful country.”
I love visiting the many places of interest in your country, another NGO Rep joined in expressing the concerns of seeing Foreign Investors exploiting the country and its people in so many ways, mentioning the forestry, the mineral industry, ExxonMobil and the situation at the bauxite company as examples, and government’s inability to address the situations.
Then a Diplomat spoke about the country’s economy, he mentioned that pass and present governments officials lack the ability to enforce the economic policies and laws to protect against exploitation, labour laws to protect the Guyanese people and a fair trade deal.
He said officials, government officials, the chamber of commerce, opposition parties and other important groups are not supportive, nor are they standing together against the exploitation of the country’s natural resources. He said the country is so divided, each group just care about standing in support of what is beneficial to them, so there are the blame games and finger pointing.
Another NGO Rep said she traveled and work in many countries alongside local NGOs, and Government, she said she can’t remember ever hearing politicians so verbally abusive and disrespectful berating the highest office of the country. She asked the question of the leadership of the opposition, so arrogant and obviously obsessed with winning the election; he’s doing anything and saying anything inappropriate to win the election.
One of the Reps immediately asked the question of that person’s agenda. She said this doesn’t do well for a person who sunk so low beneath the level of decency to be the leader or part of an elected government.
Another Diplomat then said in light of what is happening when politicians who misrepresent the truth and the people, happens to be among other leading officials from other countries in an official capacity, little respect and regards is shown to them, or their proposals or any important ventures of interest.
It was noted that respect should always be shown to the highest office of a country or the people of that country will be treated indifferently in many different ways. I felt ashamed and very embarrassed, there was nothing I could have said that would have made a difference how these NGO Reps and Diplomats felt about my country; they were there and had seen and heard it all.
That night the conversation was more about how beautiful Guyana is…its natural resources, the political situation and the people. One Rep spoke about the Government’s ability to aggressively move the country’s economic policies forward in a way that the people would begin to feel comfortable but to be respectful. He said they are trying and need to be more transparent as a government.
He said what is most uncomfortable and very important is the insinuation of the opposition leader threatening and his intimidation towards various ministry employees, agencies, contractors and politicians, the calling for International Agencies and Foreign Governments to sanction persons of the opposing side, and calling for their involving in the country’s domestic affairs.
He said it’s grossly inappropriate for a former president to demonstrate such behaviour. He feels that the people of Guyana should pay keen attention to the decision they are going to make. Some NGO Reps feel the government is not doing enough to resolve the situation and should be more upright in upholding the constitution. They are afraid Guyana could be heading to a pathway of unrest and hope that all leaders act responsibly, I wish I can write everything but it’s too much, we never know how much attention is paid to our beautiful country.
David Sandiford
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