Dear editor,
PLEASE allow me some space in your newspaper to give my views on the way forward in bridging the political gap between Indo- and Afro-Guyanese.

I am getting older every day, and overtime, I have seen the political divide continue to stagnate with no hope for collegiality. Guyanese are a proud people, and each race wants to have a political share in administrating the country.

Now that the APNU+AFC coalition has formed the government, the coalition needs to win the hearts of all Guyanese, especially the Indo-Guyanese. The only way this can be achieved is to enable Indo-Guyanese to feel there is equity in the system. There is no doubt that East Indians are historically known to be hard workers, who dedicate their energy towards the happiness and education of their children and in raising the GDP of this country. That is why the social life of the Indo-Guyanese has been stable over the familial life of the Afro-Guyanese.

Indo-Guyanese are naturally agriculturally-inclined. They take their intelligence, endure struggles to grow their rice, and look after their families. Take this away from them and you are courting violence, immigration and sabotage.
The government has shown its power to the families of the Indo-Guyanese because they have been out of work from their youthful years whilst their counterparts have been involved in corrupt practices. To control the political elite is to harness their thoughts from corruption by offering them better salaries. It is a wise move. The President needs to do more by having them declare their assets.

The President should have a group of eloquent and fair-minded Guyanese to form a commission as an autonomous body to try those ministers who are caught being involved in corrupt practices, and should enforce strict penalties.

I agree we ought to fight for the land that gave us birth. To give Venezuela access is to continue to give them credibility to fight us for our land. I agree with the President that this matter should be solved through juridical means.

I have a feeling that Guyana will soon become a hotspot. President Granger should not ask for help from the USA, because I see none coming. If U.S. soldiers should establish a presence in Guyana, then the USSR will back Venezuela, and the whole matter will be suicidal for the Guyanese people.

So I am calling on the President to try his best to seek a solution to this impasse, and to show goodwill towards the Guyanese people and not doing anything to cause the East Indians to hate him. People will not tolerate a PNC strategy to bring the East Indians to their knees, but they will retaliate and the whole society will again foster racism and divide-and-rule. This will make us weaker and vulnerable against intended invaders.
To pluck away infrastructure and agricultural lands from people will spell disaster, rather than unity.

Finally, I would like to encourage the President to try to continue the development process from where the opposition left off, and try to forge a new way and leapfrog Guyana towards economic development.

Regards
Chandradat Deonandan