Dear Editor,
THE ability to feel a sense of shame and to have one’s conscience nag at them for their actions is a human condition most people are able to experience. It is this inner voice that causes us to do the right thing, even when someone is not looking.

But then there are people who are entirely bereft of a conscience with no concept of shame. They are instead driven by self-serving motivations that in their world, transcends decency, trumps credibility and towers above integrity.

In recent days, I have seen groups, some never before heard of, emerge from the woodwork waxing lyrical about corruption, oil and gas projects, the need for fair play, inclusivity and good governance. These include the Guyana Human Rights Association, run by a lone individual who only emerges from deep slumber when a particular political party is in office. Others, such as the East Coast Development Committees and Community-based Rehabilitation, seem to have been conjured up entirely out of thin air since no one has heard of them, knows where they operate from, who the principals are or what their mandate is.

While make-believe and make-up organisations commenting on matters of national importance would normally be scoffed at and ridiculed, times have changed. People believe what they read. Therefore, calling out fraudulent groups and groups with no locus standi, has to be the duty of all right-minded Guyanese.

We also have to be frank and call a spade a spade. The noisemakers calling for a halt to developmental projects, including the offshore operations which are bringing in billions of dollars, are doing so on the grounds of spurious claims and false concerns about having the country and its people at heart. This is unadulterated hogwash.

We must band together and reject opportunists and actors who clearly have no interest in progress and development.
Put Guyana first.

Yours sincerely,
Romel Khan