BASIC to civilised public life are two instincts. The first is the one that is innate in us—the automatic resort to saying that you were wrong and you are sorry for whatever consequences came out of your mistake. The second one is the natural impulse in public figures to explain the things they have said because they have an obligation to people who admire or love or respect or support them.

In Guyana, in politics, civil society, and the private media, you can hardly find the instincts of explanation and/or apology. What drives my anger is that the people who want explanations, accountability, and apologies are hardened in their refusal to offer the same to society.

These people have an insanely twisted understanding of what holds society intact and allows it to continue to exist. If a ruling politician should apologise for a lapse by what logic is an opposition politician, a media personality or a publicly known civil society activist exempted from such an obligation?

If you research the role of the private media, the total opposition spectrum, and many civil society organisations since the Ali presidency was born, there is the ingrained tendency to dismiss the moral obligation to explain and apologise. If I were to enumerate the examples of such unacceptable situations, it would fill a book-length manuscript.

I don’t know where to begin, so I will begin randomly. Cathy Hughes said that then-President Bharrat Jagdeo offered a sea lane to the then-Venezuelans as part of the settlement of the border controversy. No such thing was ever done, and in a libel trial, Mrs. Hughes admitted that she has evidence of that. But there was never an apology from Mrs. Hughes.

Amanza Walton-Desir echoed the identical sentiment on the Freddie Kissoon Show, never cited any paper trail of Mr. Jagdeo’s proposal, but never apologised. Mrs. Desir is under constant focus by her coalition partner, Dorwin Bess, who has gone on a stuck record. It goes like this; an opposition parliamentarian cannot demand principles and accountability from the government and not practise the same.

Gary Best, former army head and current executive of the PNC, told me on the Freddie Kissoon Show that he saw on video where President Jagdeo made that sea lane offer to the Venezuelans. He promised to send the video to me. That was over two years ago. He never did, and he never will because there is no such video. Dr. Best is yet to apologise.

The Red Thread women’s group; the owner of Stabroek News, Isabelle DeCaires; Alissa Trotz and her sister Maya; Nigel Westmaas and 38 others demanded in a letter to President Ali that Guyana comes out of oil production. They cited the effect of greenhouse emissions and advised the President that these emissions kill African people. The 42 persons specifically mentioned the African race and no other race.

It was an ugly piece of racial bigotry for which an apology should have been offered to the Guyanese nation. None ever came. Yet those 42 persons reserve the right to accuse the Guyana government of all kinds of discrimination and lack of accountability. But this is not the end of the story. No one called for the boycott of the Stabroek News. And the paper continues to use the services of Alissa Trotz and Nigel Westmaas.

The newspaper did not see that it had a moral duty to ask Trotz and Westmaas for an explanation. Of course, it could not when the owner of the paper herself signed the document asserting that greenhouse effects kill African people. Imagine a situation where the Minister of Agriculture intoned that a certain insecticide is harmful and kills its Indian users. The insane voices of condemnation would have smothered this nation.

To say that greenhouse gases kill humans and only mention the African race is an expression of racial superiority. This is what racism is about. Racism is the belief that a particular race is special. Those 42 signatures are saying that oil production is deadly and Guyana should get out of it, and though it did say it kills humans in general, it only mentioned the African race.

I would like to see an argument that contends that no racial overtone was intended. If not, why mention one race only? All 42 persons that made that demand on the President exposed their Freudian closet. Deep in their Freudian mind, they believe there are superior races that make up the civilised world. Guyanese let themselves down by not demanding an apology from the Gang of 42.

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.