ONE of the most psychologically malignant things I see in this country is how people who are the problem in Guyana and that problem eats away at the fabric of society turn around and lift themselves so high as (in Barry Manilow’s famous song) when the stallion meets the sun and point to others as the problem.

Let’s quote from the Stabroek News’ (SN) editorial “All the rotten things” of May 1 (last Thursday): “Over the past eight days, much of what is wrong with Guyana has been on display.” The newspaper, no doubt, is referring to the Adrianna Young tragedy. So, let’s rewind the tape from May 1. This means that the newspaper refers to eight days, from Wednesday, April 23, to April 30.

The SN opined that in that period, much of what is wrong with this country was in full view. Here is what I will do now. Monday, April 28 to Saturday, May 3, (yesterday) is six days. Those past six days reveal in stark, sickening, mentally agonising ways what is wrong with this nation.

And what is wrong with this nation includes that newspaper itself. It includes a human rights outfit named the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA). It takes in the Guyana Press Association and the degradation of journalism. It includes a party’s leadership named the Alliance For Change, the People’s National Congress, and certain civil society organisations. I could go on.

But if you sit down to chat with the management of the SN, the GHRA, Nigel Hughes, Red Thread, Dr. Clive Thomas, Dr. Alissa Trotz, Transparency Institute-Guyana Chapter, just to name a few and you ask them sincerely as a researcher if they think that they are part of the problem, that they contribute to the rotten things that form the title of the SN’s editorial, what do you think they would say?

They will evocatively tell you that Guyana has one problem, and all the rotten things stem from that one problem – the Government of Guyana. So here is what I will do in my capacity as a social activist of over 56 years, a media operative of 36 years and a trained academic since I entered UG as a freshman in 1974. I will show you what is wrong with Guyana that has been on display for six days – April 28 to May 3, 2025.

In those six days, the SN has not featured one, not even one editorial about acid thrown on little children as part of the looting, robbing, burning and beating of innocent humans throughout many of the 10 regions of Guyana. A prominent city businessman told me a teenager was gang-raped that fateful, destructive Monday evening, but under no circumstances does the family want to go public. His wife knows the family.

As I told Dr. Baytoram Ramharack, when he contacted me, that is all the information I have and there are no details I can secure so far. I did tell Dr. Ramharack that maybe the President will have to persuade the family to go public. That is the inherent injustice with rape. The victim and her family feel ashamed and will not go public.

In what part of the world does a country endure the kind of ordeal Guyana faced last Monday, yet none of the private newspapers issue a single condemnation? Yet the SN puts itself above society and tells Guyanese what is rotten in Guyana. So, what else is among the things that SN calls rotten? Six days have passed, and the GHRA has abstained from its favourite pastime – issuing press releases.

Let’s describe what Nigel Hughes said in response to a question about the looting, robberies and application of bodily violence. He did not use the word PPP. He said one of the major parties, and he could not have been referring to the PNC, because the PNC was part of the press conference.

Hughes told Guyana that what occurred on Monday, April 28, was the work of agents provocateurs sent by one of those major parties. Hughes could not, at a conceptual level, condemn the low-life hooligans because, in effect, there were no low-life hooligans beating and robbing people. The culprits were agent provocateurs.

So, there were no castigations of those who set out to destroy Guyana last Monday. Mr. Aubrey Norton, prior to Hughes’ denial, echoed the agent provocateur explanation. We are indeed a rotten country when a human rights organisation refuses to comment on one of the world’s most blatant attempts to rig an election. We are a rotten country when the central body of journalists elects itself. We are a rotten nation when trade union leaders have been in office for over 35 years. The past six days showed the real rottenness in Guyana.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.