IT is truly misguided and naïve of Valda A. Forsythe (KN Oct 20, 2010), to advise that we forget the past; that we burry the heartache and devastation we endured during the unbearable reign of the PNC. For us to forget where we have come from and what we have overcome is simply impossible. As a locally based Guyanese, who have lived in Guyana my entire life, I have seen firsthand the way in which politicians in the name of politics and power have dragged this nation through the mud. Their transgressions must not be erased simply because they wish a second chance.
Especially in the developments of this season of election, the past must be resurrected. Politics is seriously a dirty game. But what is essential also in politics is that it is also a mechanism by which politicians expose their true character.
Now we must not employ the past solely for the sake of holding on to that past, but we must resurrect the past as that is the only way to highlight and right the wrongs of that past. And all Guyanese, local and overseas based, are well aware that there were many wrongs. (Let us hope that ‘foreign’ did contaminate her recollection of the events of those dreaded years).
It would be reckless and unintelligent of Guyanese to allow David Granger another opportunity at power. Absolute power after all, corrupts absolutely, and he is directly, a product of his mentor Burnham.
Nevertheless, our future and that of our children’s are at risk. We must draw lessons from indiscretions and travesties committed in the past, as this is necessary to ensure that we are never in the future, stalked by the shadow of that past.
We must not allow politicians to believe that time erases the scars they inflicted on this nation during their time of power. Their disregard for democratic processes and human rights must not be forgotten.
At so great a cost, we simply cannot and will not afford David Granger a second grasp at power. The first time he showed us what he is, we took him at his word and have since progressed as a nation. No undemocratic, power-crazed dictator must ever again rule this nation.