Dear Editor:
The election carnival is about to begin and everyone running for President and Parliament are already basing all chances on different racial and ethnic configurations in order to cast the fishnet and haul in a majority of "hassa" and if a few "houri" or "bangamary" enter the cast net, then okay, because then they claim "cross-over" voting.
Here we go again, spending lots of money for a lackluster campaign which will leave our citizens with the feeling, once it's all over, that nothing will ever change for the better, regardless of what our great "statesmen" tell us.
All of them out there campaigning believe in more and more government intervention into our lives and our fragile economy, knowing full well that for over 50 years, governmental dominance of our economy has wrecked our country ; all of them think they have the answers to our problems and our dear country's problems when, in fact, they are really devoid of solutions to our backwardness, our poverty, our welfare, our children's future and our general well being ; all of them like to blame the other for our problems when in fact all are to be blamed for a lack of unity to make Guyana a bedrock of democracy and equal opportunity; all of them tell us of the great things they will do for us but we know better because of our collective understanding of what our politics has come to represent- greed, self-satisfaction, nepotism, cronyism and power-drunkenness.
Not one of them can relate to the great incantation of Mahatma Gandhi when he asserts that no government can be successful without incorporating the Kingdom of Heaven in its daily intercourse while remembering that majoritarian rule is evil and sure to fail : not one of them understands the Gandhian philosophy of village democracy where the village is in reality the strength of any nation, building a village private enterprise network to creative wealth across the nation.
The days of real dedicated politics have gone for good and instead of my godfather, President Forbes Burnham's incantation of a great destiny to mould by co-operatives and feeding , housing and clothing all our citizens, what we have are the things President Cheddi, my father, fought all his life against: hair-splitting, disunity, corruption, winner-take-all mentality,the rich getting richer while the poor get poorer,exploitation of Guyana's workers, foreigners taking over our valuable resourses, mismanagement and squander mania. Burnham and Jagan would look down at these upcoming elections and just shake their heads at what the Guyanese people have as choices.
Jagan and Burnham brought a vitality and electric shocks to our politics and now, what we have leaves us bored and frustrated; Jagan and Burnham made us think and imagine what could be and what we have now leaves us bewildered and confused about the future; Jagan and Burnham gave us fire in our belly and opened our minds to debate, to think things out and voice our politics at every street corner and what we have now are a bunch of politicians who just debate and argue among themselves while we, the citizens have become automated , near-sighted voters.
We are headed straight for trouble.
Cheddi (Joey) Jagan (Jr.), via email
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Dear Editor:
In response to the many detractors, who pose questions as to the validity of the state of emergency in Trinidad and Tobago, as it refers to the suspension of basic human rights, I beg to disagree. A few years before the SoE, the people of TT implicitly lost quite a few of their rights simply because of the rising crime situation.
Citizens were not able to come out of their homes after dark, no late family gatherings, no late church services, in fact churches had to be closed.
Actually, it went so far that people were robbed at weddings and poojas. Rights that have been violated before the SoE are as follows: (1) the right of the individual to life, liberty and security of the person (over 3000 citizens have been murdered), (2) the right of the individual to equality before the law and the protection of the law (no police vehicles are ever available), (3) the right of the individual to respect for his private and family life (rape and kidnappings), (4) freedom of movement (self imposed curfew) (5) freedom of association and assembly (liming and recreational activities).
It is universally accepted that Constitutions do not grant rights, they recognise them. The previous regime did just that, and TT degenerated to its present situation. In its present incarnation, the People's Partnership, in its quest for good governance has seen the value of instituting the SoE, and eventually captured the hearts of the people.
This is so because citizens have now breathed a sigh of relief, as they have now regained their lost fundamental rights and not as some degenerates are preaching that the SoE has infringed on basic rights.
The SoE has been rightly imposed because of the unholy rise in crime. Most surveys have posted a 90 percent concurrence with the SoE. Therefore, it must be understood that everyone must sacrifice something so as to lower the spiralling crime rate. This also means that people must also stop complaining about the small inconveniences that they have to endure. Further to this, the Ministry of National Security can and should impose a Ministerial Order to ban curfew parties.
Finally, the Prime Minister must adopt a pragmatic approach (trial and error) to this dilemma and look seriously at the curfew hours and realise that workers and businessmen have been granted two extra hours to conduct their legitimate business, but this in effect means that you have also granted the criminal an extra two hours to conduct his illegal activities and this answers the question as to why the crime rate has begun to rise again.
Therefore, it is only obvious and intelligent that the hours revert to its original format. Either the Government must have the capacity to educate and reform the people or the people must have the capacity to educate the Government.
Doodnath Maharaj, Arima, Trinidad
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Dear Editor:
The Government of Trinidad and Tobago has to enforce the death penalty. Start hanging. This will make people respect other people and their properties. Teens or adults will hang for raping and mudering other people. Lawyers need to stand down from these cases. Money is not everything. Put yourself and family in other people's positions.
I live in the USA, the population is much larger than our country, and just one borough or avenue in some areas, has more people than Trinidad. And crime is under control. Enforce hanging. People, forget Black and Indian , you all are suffering due to ignorance in our nation.
Saish Harbhajan, via e-mail |