By Francis Quamina Farrier

The importance of the Guyana Diaspora has been well established over the decades. Guyanese at home have been receiving much assistance from that source with barrels of goodies, money, and other gifts such as computers and free medical attention. Now Guyana has already been returning the favour and exporting barrels of oil to the diaspora. Of course, the country has exported a high percentage of its most brilliant daughters and sons to lands all around the globe for over 50 years.

Some Guyanese in the diaspora have ended up in prison for crimes such as murder, money laundering and trafficking in narcotics. Others such as Sir Edward Riches who was from Adelphi, East Canje, Berbice, became the Premier of Bermuda – the first non-white to achieve the highest office in that country. Guyanese, by and large, are high achievers when action is taken to “Roll the stone of hindrance away” as the late Rev. Evelyn John sang.

Guyana is now at a political, economic and social crossroads, and the situation is hurting the hearts of those in the diaspora as much as Guyanese at home. After the March 2 General and Regional Government Elections, the country suffered a national stroke, as it were. After well over a month, there has been no official announcement regards the results of the elections. Compounding that, there is the deadly attack by the COVID-19 pandemic. In which direction should this beautiful country go in the weeks, months, years and decades ahead? National unity is very much needed.

How soon will the leaders of the country get together and map out a plan which will make Guyanese stop the vicious racial and political rhetoric and recognise that if we do not agree to live together in “love and harmony, peace and unity”, as the Guyanese song implores, then we will most likely die in despair, as we drown in our oil and suffocate in our gas.

Maybe, like the way in which the deadly Coronavirus has us in lockdown, a frustrated voter recommended that the political leaders should travel to the Kaieteur National Park and go into lockdown mode. While there, they would observe social distancing, but coupled with national togetherness. They should also enjoy the beauty of the Kaieteur National Park and the power of the magnificent Kaieteur Falls. During that unique lockdown, they would make every effort at political unity, with a determination to find mutual solutions for the country’s many problems. And, as it is known, every problem has a solution. As the Billy Pilgrim patriotic song declares, “Can we do it? Yes, we can!” The location of such a meeting is really not that novel since some years ago, there was an open-air presidential meeting at Fairview Village on the West Bank of the upper Essequibo River, just south of Iwokrama. In the Background, were the powerful rapids cascading over huge boulders along the Essequibo River. Much was achieved at that meeting, which could be used as the blueprint for the recommended Post-General Election 2020 fiasco; a unifying meeting at Kaieteur top.

By the beginning of April, more and more Guyanese in the diaspora were speaking out. They include Guyanese-born, Sir Ronald Sanders, who, after migrating to Antigua and Barbuda many years ago, quickly climbed the ladder of the Foreign Service of that sister CARICOM State. He was High Commissioner to London, United Kingdom, serving two tours of duty; 1983 to 1987 and 1995 to 2004. Sir Ronald also served as a Member of the Executive Board of UNESCO, and Ambassador to the World Trade Organization. At this time, he is the Ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda to the United States of America (USA) and to the Organization of American States (OAS). He was also a candidate for the post of Commonwealth Secretary General. So, as a Guyanese-born world-citizen, Sir Ronald Sanders is well qualified to make comments related to the international well-being of the Land of his birth. “The image and standing of Guyana are being tarnished throughout the world,” stated the veteran Broadcaster, Columnist and Diplomat in a recent feature article. “Yet, a small window of opportunity remains open for the country to be regarded as democratic and for its government to be hailed as legitimate,” he added.

Most Guyanese under the age of 40 would hardly know anything about Sir Ron Sanders, but back in the 1970s, Ron Sanders and a number of very young media operatives – in their early 20s – kept the nation buoyed with their innovative radio programmes; Action Line and No Big Ting, being two different examples. It was the era of fierce patriotism in Guyana, and those radio icons of the early Independence years were the radio rock stars of Guyana, so to speak. They were more popular and loved by the average Guyanese than some of the politicians of the day. The attached photograph to this article shows eight of those radio rock titans of the 1970s. New Amsterdam even named a street to the memory of Matthew Allen after his death.

There have also been countless commentaries about the elections deadlock with no announced results some seven weeks after citizens voted on March 2, 2020. Voters were urged to go out early and vote; ironically, the results are extremely very late in coming in. Some prominent Guyanese in the diaspora have also added their voices, Sir Ron Sanders included.

There is that saying, “no man is an island”, and that was pointed out in a very strong way by Sir Ronald. “CARICOM still has a role to play in supervising a transparent recount of all the votes of March 2, so that a credible elections result can be declared acceptable to all. It owes it to itself as well as to Guyana,” he stated. Failing which, according to Sir Ron, there could be serious repercussions. “It will itself invite the sanctions that will certainly come and ostracization and pain that will follow.” How important is it for Guyanese at home to listen to the voices from the diaspora, and seriously consider the merits of what is said, and if considered appropriate, to take the necessary action for the good of Guyana. Voices from the diaspora as well as overseas observers all have their own flaws, but listening to them is vital.

The current impasse compounds the previous international image of Guyana as a ‘narco’ state with endemic corruption. A state with a very high percentage of suicides, extrajudicial killings, murders especially of women, traffic fatalities, trafficking in persons, and money laundering. Many citizens hoped for a CARICOM intervention in the past. One voter stating that democracy should not only be for the counting of ballots but the counting of the level of “happiness and prosperity of Guyanese” every day. The image of Guyana need not be further tarnished if all the political leaders accept that “no man is an island”, especially an island in an ocean of problems. At this time it must be “All hands on deck”. God bless Guyana, our beautiful native land, waiting to take its place in the sun.