WE have exactly three weeks remaining for the national election; therefore it is expected that columnists would concentrate on the campaign shape. I doubt between now and the 1st of September I will be able to complete everything I wanted to touch on. There is literally a plethora of campaign aberrations that need looking at, but three weeks will not be adequate time.
I break my campaign ruminations today to make an appeal to President Ali on behalf of CARICOM’s only Olympic medallist for boxing and Guyana’s only Olympic medalist – Mike Parris. I do not know Mr. Parris; never met him, never seen him even on screen. I am making this appeal to President Ali without even any knowledge of Mr. Parris of what I am doing here.

Mr. Parris won the bronze for boxing at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. That is 45 years ago. What this means is that almost 80 percent of the population either were too young or weren’t born when Mr. Parris did for Guyana what no one else before 1980 and after 1980 has done. He remains Guyana’s only Olympic medallist.

Shouldn’t this country show eternal gratitude for what Paris has achieved? We may differ on how he should be honoured but this entire nation would agree that he should be honoured. How does Mr. Paris live? I understand that he is a taxi driver. I do not know what the monthly take-home for a taxi-driver is but this I know – Guyana should not see Mr. Parris go without the modest things in life.

I do believe that Guyana’s only Olympic medallist should live a life without basic needs. I honestly don’t know how Mr. Parris lives, and I do not know if he would take objection to what is written here about his present life. I would like him to know that even if he thinks that he does not need financial honour from the government that should not deter me as a nationalist for advocating that there be some form of financial gratitude from his country.

Here is what I am suggesting. If it is true, according to Chronicle sports writer, Sean Devers, that Mr. Parris is a taxi driver that the state should purchase a reliable and newer vehicle for him to continue to ply his trade. This is a one-off payment.

Alternatively, there could be a permanent stipend of X amount each month. I am not going to state a precise figure; that is for the state to decide. But most definitely, Guyana should do something for Mike Parris, the country’s only Olympic medallist.

My mind goes back to Johnny Braff, Guyana’s most successful home-based superstar. Johnny lived in a public assistance home and died in poverty. While he was alive, I did two columns appealing for some form of help for Johnny. This was during the Granger presidency but there was no movement towards Johnny by the state.

Come to think of it, I don’t know if anything is named after Mike Parris. What percentage of the population knows that in the history of Olympic participation, Guyana has only one medal and it was won for boxing by Mike Paris? It is for this reason, I continue to stress in my columns over the years that when you put the name of a Guyanese contributor, it lives on forever. People will know who the achiever was.

Can you imagine a woman who lived most of her adult life outside of Guyana, secured a starring place in a Hollywood movie and was given a honorary doctorate by UG? What is my point? Let the lady have her doctorate. She deserves it. But those like Mike Parris must be justly recognised too.

How many people in this country know the Guyanese man to have first scored a World Cup goal? He did not play in an actual World Cup game. What he did, he played for Guyana for the World Cup qualifying games. It is referred to as a World Cup goal because it was the preliminary match for qualification. This was in 1976. His name is Vibert Butts.

I was livid when I read that Butts was remanded to prison for a few grams of marijuana that he used as a practicing Rastafari. I immediately fired off a column not asking for but demanding the granting of bail. As a country we should not treat our achievers like this?

What was going through the mind of that magistrate, assuming that she had a mind at the time. Butts subsequently secured bail after his achievement for his country was known. My deepest respect to Vibert Butts and Mike Parris.

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.