OP-ED: Yes We Can

By Sherod Duncan
Rahm Emanuel, Mayor of Chicago and Former Chief of Staff to former US President, Barack Obama, once said, “You never let a serious crisis go to waste.” One interpretation is that we should look for the opportunities even in bad situations. As a matter of fact, it may have been his old boss who exemplified that statement the most.

Recall the ‘Yes We Can’ speech of his 2008 White House bid, the phrase becoming the rallying call which swept the then young senator from Illinois into the Oval Office. What some people forget is that soaring oratory was delivered against the backdrop of his humiliating defeat in the New Hampshire primary.

Who remembers what the victor said?
Yet, before Obama’s historic speech and win, where I grew up on the ‘Shopping Plaza’ in South Ruimveldt, I looked across, every day, to the North Ruimveldt Multilateral School and saw emblazoned on the façade of the building, the phrase, ‘We Can, We Must, We Will’. Etched also into memory is the beautiful refrain of our national ballad; that line, ‘Can we do it?’ to the response, ‘Yes We Can’. It is the credo which anchored us through 50 years of history since our declaration of self-reliance. We have faced enormous challenges, each threatening more than the last to take us over the precipice, towards certain destruction. But each time we find a way, take stock and pull ourselves back.

The elegant words of one of our illustrious sons, haunts us, “We did not achieve political independence only to continue in the old colonial ways of exploitation and degradation.” Those words are poignant as they ever were. Guyanese have the capacity to steer this ship we call Guyana to true North; we have the fortitude and tenacity to surmount every obstacle in our path to progress and the good life. We are the change we have been looking for.

That is why it is noteworthy in our green gold’s bitter-sweet experience: the macro shifts in the industry, the loss of preferential markets, mismanagement, reforming the industry, consolidation of cultivation, ameliorating the impact of retrenchment on workers’ livelihood, the payment of severance – when we seemed once more on this perilous path to destruction, reason prevails, our Guyanese-ness buoys us towards yet a glimmer of hope. It has been reported that the Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo, who once held an inflexible position on certain sugar estate closures, has relented, which now paves the way for Government to take decisive action; charting the future of the industry in a definitive direction.

Somewhere in Guyana a parent is thinking about what will go into her child’s lunch pack tomorrow. Somewhere a father is contemplating what the ‘market money’ will look like next weekend for his family’s survival. Somewhere in Guyana there is a clerk trying to figure out what the discovery of oil means for his pocket in the years to come. While somewhere else someone is wondering if our current existence is all there is to life. I am convinced that even though politics intersects all our lives at some point, it is not the most dominant thing on our minds daily. People trust their leaders to have all the facts to make the right decisions for our country. This is why we have elections and people democratically choose their leaders.

We have a chance at something great. The David Granger-led administration, even with our missteps, have a moment to build on–not only to transform the sugar industry but every industry and sector by the courage of our conviction to make the tough decisions. This is leadership. As that iconic American President said then in his memorable oration, I pen again with humility, “In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let’s resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.” Yes We Can! (Sherod Avery Duncan is a Legal and Communications Professional.)

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