Dear Editor,

“You will see me in your towns, villages and your homes. I want to hear from you; I want us to talk about your dreams no matter how big or small and let us work together as individuals, as communities and as a country. Together, we can build this nation and love each other as we do so.” This was a strong, powerful, significant, admirable, brave and effective statement made by the adorable First Lady, Arya Ali, after the Presidential inauguration. A young, intelligent mother poised to take Guyana to a united and peaceful future, she has committed not only herself but also her husband, the President of Guyana, Dr. Irfaan Ali. This is the determination that underlies one of the ideals of the new government and leading the way are the President and the First Lady. Her words resonate the intensity of honesty, integrity, humility, equality, decency and sincerity towards achieving great intentions. Guyanese women should feel proud that in the forefront lies a backbone that is ready, willing and capable to reestablish pride once again and to help remove the shame that was so intolerably exerted on the nation by a gang of heartless cabals. Guyana would also recall the creditable past performances of previous First Ladies who had established some remarkable agendas during their tenure. The folks do await that personality of pleasantries to grace the streets and homes with her curtsy to maintain that common touch and reach out to understand the problems of the strugglers and stragglers and provide remedial answers.

Guyanese would sadly recall the past caretaker administration careless and callous responsibility towards the people of this country. From the inception in 2015, their first move was to increase their officers’ salaries by 50 per cent and ignoring the mass. That was their way of say, “thank you” for putting us in office. Throughout their term, they ignored the man in the street, failed to address basic but essential issues, lost touch from the mass, lived the “good life” and “turned up their nose” at the small man who remained at the bottom, never made good of all of their promises, pressured the tax payers with increases while they enjoyed all the exemptions and luxuries and hardly reached out in empathy and sympathy. In fact, their own supporters were shunned and forgotten because they were there only to be used and abused, to do their dirty work and see them in power. What a shame to treat the people who served you so willingly and hoping to be taken care of in return! At the end of the story, who really gained and who lost? The very ones who voted the de facto miscreants in are the ones still clamoring for equality, freedom and justice. Their needs remained unserved and their dreams and hopes shattered because of the aloofness of those “big ones” chauffeured driven with security, living in the expensive free mansions with servants to service their needs. Now it is up to the new government to shoulder this burden but who is only too happy, culpable and willing to share and care about their distress along with the rest of the nation’s anxieties and perplexities. Guyana remembers the last minute splurge that provided cosmetic Christmas gifts in January and February to make up for lost time, to save shame face and to bribe a way for reelection! Election campaign visits that were disguised as official visits were mocked by the nation, rebutted and did not fool the alert nation. They only added to the expenses of the coffers to be shouldered by tax payers.

Behind every successful man is a woman. Not to deny the expectation and assurance of the First Lady, the President, Dr. Irfaan Ali visited Crane, West Coast Demerara last Tuesday evening and joined devotees of the ISKON Guyana Crane Temple to celebrate Krishna Janmashtami. Hindus throughout the world celebrated the auspicious observance of Lord Krishna’s entrance in the universe. Residents in New York would recall the visits of the then presidential candidate making appearances in numerous mandirs, mosques and churches. It is hoped that a precedent created from inception would derive the divine blessings for its continuity for years to come. Sincerity is not to say everything you think but to mean everything you say. Leading by example is commendable and knee kneeling and kissing babies as publicity stunts are not the avid cup of tea for public’s satiation and satisfaction. Honesty is a very expensive thing so don’t expect it from cheap people. Confucius observed, “Sincerity and truth are the basis of every virtue,” something badly lacking, overlooked and ignored by bullies.
To supplement, complement and implement the courtesies of the First Lady, many of the newly-sworn members of the cabinet were seen hitting the ground hard, early, running fast in the streets and conferring and concurring with her wishes and desires as confirmation to her affirmation. To underscore this iteration are the following examples. “This is the way we will go about doing our business. We will not only sit in the office and send out instructions. As a matter of fact, I plan to visit all of the areas that are affected,” said the newly-appointed Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, as he visited various outreaches having firsthand look at existing problems. Ministers of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai and Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall, along with Civil Defence Commission (CDC) Director-General Lieutenant-Colonel Kester Craig and his Deputy Major, Loring Benons, were seen in the village of Kurukubaru, the first stop, where 300 hampers delivered to be shared between that village (150), Itabac (75) and Kanapang (75). In-person appearance and adding the personal touch of ministers themselves make quite a difference. Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal, and Minister Susan Rodrigues have assured residents of ‘A’ Field Sophia that there will be no “strong arm” approach to the issue but rather a comprehensive and inclusive one as they made their rounds in the communities to mix and mingle with the man in the street and listen to their problems. Not to be left out, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, on Tuesday, met with the Director of the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD), Ms. Jennifer Cumberbatch, and other members of staff. She also invited the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) to a meeting to hear the union’s views about the impact of COVID-19 on the education sector and teachers in particular. On the dollar and on the spot was Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar, along with a team from the Ministry, the Region Five Chairman, Vickchand Ramphal and Regional Vice-Chairman Rion Peters, paying a visit to the 500m of breached sea defence at Content to Dantzig, Mahaicony, Region Five, with hopes of assessing the progress of the works. All the unmentioned ministers were also busy meeting with their ministries and staff, familiarising, reacquainting and updating themselves with their current issues and true status.

Guyanese should feel some degree of assurance that the PPP/C Party has adopted the right approach and positive attitude towards rebuilding a broken nation and uniting its disheartened and flabbergasted people. This can only be materialised from leading by example and, putting that personal touch to realise the true magnitude and reality of the disastrous mess that they have inherited is attributable to personal resolution. A colossus hurdle, the new government now has to grapple and find the impossible answers to resolve these humongous matters, not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination, especially with a depleted Treasury and bankrupt economy, coupled with COVID-19 repercussions and a high and dangerous crime rate. A disgruntled, disorganised, non-cooperative, non-productive, inefficient, ineffective and non-functional major opposition party only adds to their burden as a dead weight and will further delay their smooth flow of operation and be a spanner in the spokes. This new-born baby does not need this gift to tag along and does need breathing room before it can start walking. It first has to be nurtured and strengthen its body with immunity before it can cope and tackle all the diseases and disasters it has to encounter from exposure. Expectations from the public are high and time is against everyone, but, a bit of empathy to understand the holistic impositions accumulated from the diabolic syndicates of villainous dictatorship is an appreciation within reasonable boundaries.

The new government needs to be given a chance to first settle down and settle in, and, affirm its feet solidly on the ground to lay a firm foundation. Remember, it is less than two weeks old and still nursing. But, from a layman’s perspective and not a professional, this is being denied. The public is clamoring for the new government to become cognisant of the awareness that a lot of things are wrong, to immediately identify those problems, something they have already initiated and to register an acknowledgement. Analysing the problem by bisecting, dissecting, knowing the pros and cons, pinpointing the advantages and disadvantages, noting the affects and effects and prorating the profit and loss are the next steps. Brainstorming for solutions and examining each proposal is the following step and a process of elimination may be considered. Deciding on the best, safest, possible, workable and profitable resolution from an expert opinion is considerable and its recommended submission for scrutiny, review, acceptability and approval may follow. After implementation, a follow up for effectiveness may result. This basic guideline may contribute to simple resolutions in a number of small areas as a suggested idea. We all need to understand that changes cannot happen overnight but given some time, the impossible will become possible. Remember what old people say as you rest, “If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.”

Respectfully,
Jai Lall