Dear editor,

U.S. Secretary of State Mr. Michael Pompeo has completed the Guyana leg of his Western Hemisphere tour, having arrived last Thursday and departed on Saturday to complete the remaining portion of his journey. Guyana thanks him for his gracious arrival, his meaningful but short stay, his respectful departure and, as the smoke from his jumbo jet vaporised with the clouds, we bid him “au revoir,” wishing him well and not to forget the continued struggle of Guyanese against the mindset destabilisers, still fretting and fuming but, wiping the sweat of relief from their foreheads, at least, momentarily. It was a business-oriented visit and there was no time for sightseeing. His official engagement came in the wake of Guyana still suffering from the shock of the Henry cousins’ barbaric murders with unknown motive/s, the slaying of Haresh Singh as a perceived retaliatory crime and the brutal death of Prettipaul Hargobin as a victimised murder. Last Sunday the Henry boys were buried and yesterday Haresh Singh was buried. During the course of Secretary Pompeo’s stay, Guyana did not fail to impress him with all the gruesome vicissitudes, including robbery, attacks, accidents, prison upheaval, damaged koker, food-hamper distribution, our parliamentary showtime fracas, APNU/AFC government exposed corruption and sadly, more deaths due to COVID-19.

Even though the murderers of Joel and Isaiah Henry are still at large, a 75-man team consisting of police, soldiers, doctors and other investigators continue to comb and search the Berbice areas for clues, leads and evidence and interrogating residents, seeking all pertinent and material information that may help them to solve this case. Guyana and Guyanese suffered tremendously from those four deaths, property and personal damage and injuries, cash and jewellery losses, harassment, shock and trauma. Most Guyanese are of the mutual opinion that this unfortunate and regrettable incident could have been avoided, were it not for the racial insinuations and strife as perpetrated by the ruthless leaders of the APNU+AFC party and their irresponsible remarks to the gatherings in West Coast Berbice. The country was slowly recovering from the racial innuendos and the political divide from that long, drawn-out election fracas, where the APNN+AFC and the rebels were holding Guyana and its people under siege for some five brutal months. They were holding the country at ransom for a hefty price which included rigging the elections, dragging their feet on court issues and wanting to gain power through the back door. Guyana was lucky because the national and international community retaliated and supported the people for their rights. Eventually, it was the visa-restriction sanction by the United States through the instrumentality of Secretary of State Michael Pompeo that finally pressured Granger and cabal to accept the CARICOM legitimate recount election results and allow GECOM to swear in Dr. Irfaan Ali as the legal president and the PPP/C as government.

As per the First Lady’s commitment to the people of Guyana from the time of the President’s inauguration, Lady Arya Ali has been championing a fight to be in touch with the communities and to work with the people of Guyana to forge unity among them and bridge that broken relationship that was seeded by the thwarters of democracy by the PNC. Lady Ali was seen in the Tiger Bay area distributing hampers in many communities, meeting and listening to the plights of villagers and urban areas, working with other organisations regarding many social issues and over the weekend, she was again involved with another image promotion for Guyana’s fractured harmony. This time, it was the unveiling of a “One Guyana” project installation at Kingston, Georgetown, with several parents and children coming together from many city wards. The installation of a map of Guyana made up of puzzle pieces, that is intended to promote the virtues of friendship, love and brotherhood among all Guyanese. The words portrayed on the map include, respect, unity, strength, gratitude, love, humanity, happiness, friendship, peace and togetherness. It is highly commendable that the First Lady has embarked on this timely and good-intentioned project, especially with a fragmented society being driven further apart by the heartless, ruthless, callous and irresponsible leaders of the APNU+AFC, who are self-bent on destroying the peace of mind of Guyanese and encouraging violence and mayhem so that they can achieve their devious goal with their devilish agenda by prying and playing on the emotions of innocent Guyanese.

Discrimination has no place in Guyana and this society that clamours for peace, justice, unity and equality, will not tolerate, abide by, propagate, institute nor encourage any form of indifference and differences, whether through the medium of class distinctions, looks by colour, religious creed, ethnic inheritance, gender distinction, age differences, physical appearances, religious practices, marital status, political persuasion or professional attributes; nor by any contributing element factored in a biased approach to influence persuasion of choice. The conceited days of being prejudiced, marginalised or of practising unilateralism cannot survive for the economy of Guyana to fully develop, so that the people can share in equitable distribution and live side by side in peace, harmony, unity and love. Guyanese are urged to remain cognisant of all the projectors of violence, racism, lies, deceit and corruption and denounce all the tongue twisters who are only greedy for financial and political power for selfish reasons. Guyanese are once again urged to follow the footsteps of the First Lady and to encourage their neighbours to participate and organise more activities in all the communities to promote “One Guyana.”

Respectfully,
Jai Lall