Dear editor,

FOR Guyana to make progress we need the skills of our smartest and brightest.We need the skills of our Guyana scholars and our government scholars. We need those talented newbies to take us forward as a nation. We need the engineers, the doctors, the accountants. Recent statistics have revealed that Guyana is a major exporter of the university-educated. The number is shocking.

The number is mind-numbing. Ninety three per cent leave annually. The reasons are multifactoral. I will never position myself as the voice for the multitude that boarded those 747s. I can humbly speak for myself. I left because of the PPP’s politics of division, discrimination, vengeance and victimisation.

That has not changed. That cannot change because it is in their DNA. A few window dressers are used to conceal the wolves. A few tokens to do their dirty work. A friend recently shared with me the sad story of her brother who was studying overseas. He landed in Jagdeo’s black book because he utilised his rights to free speech. Critical of Jagdeo he was. Returned to Guyana was the punishment. Never completed his degree is his pain. To date he is a broken man. Then recently I saw Jagdeo compiling his list of persons and businesses he will punish if Mr Granger is rightfully sworn in as President. The politics of division and vendetta is alive and kicking in the PPP. But today I wish to add my voice to the many to speak out against the treatment of one of our most deserving scholars.

I met Ryan Benschop last year when he moved to the UK to attend the prestigious Russell Group Nottingham University. Within the top 10 universities it lies. Ryan is an introvert and unassuming young man. Like his dad he is not boastful. He is an alumnus of QC. Top 15 in the country was his common entrance position despite his father, an innocent man, languishing in prison for trumped-up treason charges. Political prisoner the euphemism. He too was a victim of the PPP’s politics of vendetta. At QC he excelled. Many prizes in debating. Many academic prizes. CXC he excelled as expected. School of the Nations was his next stop on his brilliant academic journey. After two years, the required duration of studies, he did the GCE A-Levels. His results were outstanding. Three A’s and a B. Valedictorian and a truckload of prizes he carried. Let’s revisit those A-Level grades. To get an A in GCE A-levels is good. To get two As is outstanding. To get three As is exceptional. To exceed three As is exceptionally brilliant. Let me add further perspective. The best ever performance in GCE A-Levels in Guyana is four As. In the UK, four A’s is generally the best performance. Added to that, Ryan was the captain of the STEM team for two successive years. In him we are dealing with Einsteinian  brilliance that we should cherish.

Ryan could have easily walked into any university in the UK. He chose Nottingham University after Nottingham University chose him. The government recognised exceptional talent and rewarded him with a scholarship. This was no Irfaan Ali type scholarship where he dropped out from UG, allegedly faked his qualifications from a non-existent West Demerara University to get a scholarship for some obscure university in India. This was not nepotism as practised by the PPP, where their kids received questionable scholarships. Ryan is the real deal. The creme de la creme. The true Dr. Walter Rodney type scholar.

The sad reality is that envy drove the cowards in the PPP to attack Ryan. They made it clear that their swords of vendetta are out. The wicked plan is to sever his ties from Nottingham University. They will then proceed to have him deported. They question his academic credentials as if the Government of Guyana could have conspired to have Ryan admitted to Nottingham University without the requisite qualifications. Nottingham University is not a bottom house university in India. This is a world-class university. Doubt me? Then ask your self-appointed golden boy of the PPP, Charles Ramson Jr. All the papers in Guyana were plastered with this “brilliant” son of the soil graduating from a top university in the UK. He lived the lie and parade the streets with arrogance until I had enough of his charade and made it known that he attended a former polytechnic which are fifth-rated universities for those students in the academic scrap heaps. One of those polytechnics Charles attended was the Nottingham Trent University which is a stone’s throw away from where I live and borders Nottingham University. It must have pained the younger Charles’ heart that he was so physically close to Nottingham University, yet academically miles away. I would not doubt if this attack on Ryan was partly orchestrated by him, out of envy. Kwame Mc Coy, the token designated with plastering the faces of PPP political opponents with faecal matter or do a similar type offensive work on social media, is likely to have had a hand in this too. The incriminating evidence is bound to be found under his fingernails.

Ryan is where he is because he deserves to be there. The cretins in the PPP are where they are because that’s where they deserve to be — in the red basket for the dumb, the academic wannabees and academic failures. I would challenge anyone in the PPP’s cretinous society to display their A-level grades. Who can better three As and a B can cast the first stone.

Regards
Dr Mark Devonish