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Nov 09, 2021 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
Kaieteur News – The dislike for Donald Trump by people around the world will continue until Trump fades from the scene. But there are things about Trump that were interesting when he was president. As a head of government, he knew how to retain people’s interest in him thus preserving support for him.
Trump saw himself as a leader of people and thus spoke on things he believed citizens were interested in, no matter how small and unimportant. His objective was that if he speaks on any issue, he will not lose because he remains in contact with the people who want him to address things that are on their minds no matter how routine these things are.
Not many presidents and prime ministers have this trait. Once in power, presidents and prime minister become so busy that many little things that bother citizens they do not touch on because they feel the subjects are not national in scope and it may not be good protocol to be dealing with tiny matters. They also believe that their subordinates are the persons who should pronounce on these details.
A former prime minister of Barbados, Tom Adams (deceased), was like Trump. Adams did not see any issue as too inconsequential for him to give attention to. Recently, the PM of Barbados, Mia Mottley did something that I think President Ali should adopt. This direction is a win-win situation. A prime minister or president cannot lose if they adopt this stance.
Here is what PM Mottley said openly and her remarks travelled throughout the Caribbean. In criticising the ways the Barbadian commercial banks greet customers, she noted: “The next thing we are going to hear is that the bank is going to charge you a fee depending on how skinny you are or how fat you are or depending on how much pressure you put on the ATM (buttons) or otherwise. It cannot be.”
This is what leadership is about. A head of government is a powerful person. When a head of government chastises an institution or organisation or public servant or private business for wrongdoing or mistreatment, it will have an effect. There is no guarantee that the remarks will bring about changes but the leader has nothing to lose by saying it. It can bring about improvement.
From President Desmond Hoyte right through to David Granger, every Guyanese president chose not to comment on little vexations that anger low-income folks and poor people. Do you know PM Mottley was not the first head of government in CARICOM to reflect on the mistreatment by the commercial banks? It was our own, president here, Dr. Ali. His comments were made through me, which I publicised.
In a conversation, he said that he read the column on my criticism on how the commercial banks treat working class folks. In fact, I didn’t know the exact sum you can deposit without having to go fill up a document with a long list of question in keeping with the money-laundering act. It was in that conversation with the president, I knew the amount.
The banks violate people’s rights daily because they ask you to answer those questions for very small amounts. I get complaints about the commercial banks all the time and I think it is time that the government creates a human rights desk with authority to have violations in this entire country corrected. I would apply for that position.
When prime ministers and presidents react to the hurt and pain, which the low-income people endure then little incremental changes will come about and those aggrieved hassles will be removed from people’s lives. I will never forget how engineer, Marcel Gaskin reacted to comments I made on a television programme when we were part of a wider panel.
I described the hassles ordinary folks go through, (the kind of things, PM Mottley and President Ali spoke about) and Mr. Gaskin, in agreement, he said he sympathizes but he personally does not get involved in those things. What I believe Mr. Gaskin meant, though he did not elaborate, is that he has his staff to deal with those issues.
But ordinary people have to face these adversities. I know a businessman who called the cell phone of a very, very powerful figure at the GRA. He answered, and acted on the complaint immediately. I know this because I was there. I wrote that very gentleman three times and called his secretary umpteen times on a certain issue and never got a reply. I don’t have status, class and wealth for that GRA big wig to want to respond to me.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)
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