Dear Editor,
Attitude is a critical part of success in any domain, and at any level. This is an especially important consideration for societies that have for the longest time been trapped in Gemeinschaft type cultural structures. The German sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies distinguished between static societies that are configured around traditional folk culture (Gemeinschaft), and dynamic social formations (Gesellschaft) that are more disposed to the assertion of rational will.

Cultural and political leadership in Guyana may be divided between the Gemeinschaft (backward-looking) and Gesellschaft (forwarding-looking). The backward-looking ones typically doubt everything and anything that indicates progress or is symbolic of development. They have an auto-defense mechanism against modernisation projects of any sort, combined with a psychological penchant for the forlorn, the dismal, the pessimistic, and even for lunacy.

Gemeinschaft personality types have over the years, for instance, objected to building or criticised the construction of the Providence National Stadium, the Berbice Bridge, the Hope Canal, the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, the Marriott Hotel, the expansion and modernisation of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport at Timeheri, the four-lane highway that currently connects Mandela Avenue to Eccles, not to mention objections to the building of hospitals, schools, and markets. These same modernisation reactionaries are against the development of our oil and gas sector, against hydro-electric power development at Amaila Falls, against monetisation of our carbon sequestration resources within TREES-ART Architecture, and against all sources of Foreign Direct Investment. They are also against Guyana’s reinvigorated diplomatic relationships with the United States and Europe.

Evidence for the above can be easily culled from columns and letters in the press or from statements issues by the PNCR, WPA, and AFC. There are also numerous arrogant elements in the diaspora who think living abroad is a special qualification that makes them experts in everything.

Here are a few statements from the Gemeinschaft reactionaries – “To my knowledge, President Ali was not involved in any geopolitics discussion with heads of states” (KN 20/7/2023). This is a quote from Leyland Roopnarine, a foreigner who has zero access to what President Ali has discussed with heads of states. Note the arrogance when the guy writes – “to my knowledge,” when in fact he has not the slightest idea. He believes that because he lives in New York, he is an expert on foreign affairs. Here is a typical statement steeped in defeatism by one, R. David – “Even the foreign exploiters are surprised and bewildered by how easy it is to exploit Guyana” (KN, 20/7/2023).

David does not read the very newspaper in which his article is published, which in fact is a leading resistor of foreign direct investments. And only days ago, Dr. Narayan Persaud exposed GHK Lall’s obsession with talking down Guyana to the point of implying that the entire nation is made of lunatics. These folks have what might be best described as suffering from the “Can’t do Syndrome.”

The PNCR is truly backward looking. Annette Ferguson not so long ago claimed that God sent L.F.S. Burnham. A senior WPA “Elder” recently compared foreign investors in our oil and gas sectors to Otto Von Bismarck whose imperialist policies eventually led to genocide in (today’s) Namibia. Another “Elder” – Hamilton Green, still thinks that National Service was a clever idea! Craig Sylvester, a politician who is statistically irrelevant, wants to go back to the APNU-AFC playbook of shutting down GuySuCo. I wonder if he knows that the sugar corporation under Sasenarine Singh has reached its production targets for the first time in years, and that Rose Hall Estate will be back in production soon.

In the meantime, the forward-looking force in the country is forging ahead with building roads, ports, hospitals, schools, combined with transformative investments in human resources with heavy emphasis in skills’ training in oil and gas, nursing, healthcare, agriculture. The forward-looking policies now in place are also laying the foundations for building wealth for families and for the nation. These are policies based on the rational modernisation of the economy and society.

Sincerely,
Dr. Randolph Persaud