Dear Editor,
GLENN Lall, via Kaieteur News, is acting up again and I am not sure what may be the aetiology. It may very well be the terrible twos or the senile 70s. As a result, I have been closely monitoring his behaviour, desperately hoping that he would return to the straight and narrow; unfortunately, that was not to be. As a result I had to reluctantly intervene in this matter since it is patently obvious that Lall cannot keep his nose clean for any period of time.

Lall has now moved away from bigger than Georgetown size forest lands after having the fight of his life, when a young hungry British lion did not take it lightly to his presence on its territory. To ensure a safe space, he has now ventured into the stratosphere with drones now his interest. On multiple occasions, he was assured that the newly acquired drones were for surveillance purposes and not to address the issue of backtrack and contraband. Apparently, that has not appeased him.

Let’s take a few step back to the beginning. It is my understanding that the government recognised that there needs to be surveillance in the difficult-to-reach terrains in the jungles of Guyana and the porous borders. They rightfully sought the advice of senior army officials who have decades of experience, to inform their decision-making. From the evidence, it appears that the consensus was that for starters, they will purchase five drones. I am no aviation expert, I never held a gun and has never been on a battlefield apart from facebook. What I do have is commonsense and an analytical mind. It is these I will use as a layman to dissect Lall’ s misadventure with a view to getting a better understanding of his motives.

Let’s go back to Lall. First, he was shouting from the hill tops that the government could have got more drones if they had bought different drones from a different company; I have serious questions about that ridiculous argument. I needed to see more facts which were not provided. “Dr” Lall may very well know that the money he spent to buy his Lexus SUV, he could have bought at least three Toyota Carinas, but yet he did not buy three Toyota Carinas. You get my point Lall? If you wish to compare the two sets of drones, I needed to see two columns in Kaieteur News looking at the comparative specifications of the drones and not only the prices. What was published were only the prices that would excite simpletons in the PPP, who will rush out in the scorching hot sun to protest “corruption.” Sorry Lall, that argument/theory of yours had to be burnt in the Devonish crematorium.
Now Lall decided to bring helicopters into the equation. He had this to say via Kaieteur News, “Kaieteur News understands there are currently three pilots in Guyana qualified to fly such helicopters for the army and are without work.” First and foremost, Kaieteur news cannot understand anything since it does not have a brain; hopefully, Lall can. Most importantly, these three pilots seem not to be working, but are being paid. Can I have their jobs? Kaieteur News had this further to say, “The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) could have purchased several helicopters for the amount it paid for five drones recently—a situation that has since been raising eyebrows.” First things first. The only person who would have raised eyebrows is Bridget, who draws her eyebrows every morning while driving to work. No one else would have had raised eyebrows. Secondly Lall, we are back to these columns. If I am to take the journalistic investigatory skills of those at Kaieteur News seriously, when comparing apples to grapes and in this case drones to helicopters, the minimum I would have expected to see is not only the cost of the helicopter and drone, but other variables. These variables would include, but would not be limited to, that the drone is ready to do its work out of the box. The same cannot be said of the helicopter. Secondly, the drones can provide critically important live images and videos. The helicopter can’t. For the helicopter to work, helipads will need to be constructed if not already in place.

Thirdly, more pilots would have to be trained. Fourthly, the helicopter will need a constant supply of fuel. Fifthly, the helicopter cannot surveil the borders at nights or for prolonged hours like the drones. Sixthly, I doubt whether the helicopter can be flown in those difficult terrains in the jungle. Assuming you rather your enemies at the borders not hear you, then a helicopter will not be suitable. If a helicopter is shot down, or if it crashes, then you would likely lose a pilot with a large compensation to the family and many more. With my very limited knowledge, I do believe taking these factors into consideration, to rush and purchase more helicopters rather than drones would be penny wise and pound foolish. Lall, it is important to have a holistic approach when considering such matters. As a matter of fact, considering every matter including shopping at Bourda Market.

I take no pleasure in conducting these public analytical and critical thinking classes for both “Dr” Lall and Mr Anand Persaud; absolutely no pleasure whatsoever, but I strongly believe it is important if one is to effectively function in the media industry that one be both critical and analytical in their thinking. There is absolutely no requirement to be a specialist in the given area, but it is imperative that journalists are equipped with the basic skills to undertake investigative journalism. Failing this, journalists will be reduced to simple reporters. Reporters who report that Mr Burnham said this or Dr Jagan said that. No questioning as to why Mr Burnham and Mr Jagan said what they said. No critical thinking. No deep analysis. In my opinion this is the problem with those two tabloid papers.

Regards
Dr Mark Devonish MBBS  MSc