Dear Editor,
In light of recent comments made on April 17, 2017 in a local newspaper via the column “Dem Boys Seh”, there seems to be a hell bent intention to provoke a verbal face-off with the Leader of the Opposition, the Honourable Bharrat Jagdeo.
It is a universally known fact that any negative comment about someone’s mother is taboo and is sure to invoke the wrath of that mother’s offspring, regardless of age, gender or status. Not only is it taboo, but it is also disrespectful to make disdainful comments about a mother, someone who has been held in high regard since creation.
The owner and editor of that local media house seem to have lost their way morally on issues relative to women. Women, throughout the ages, have always been the teachers of training, core values and genuine principles in and out of the home. Regardless of what is that woman’s status quo in society, be it good or bad, a mother would almost always seek to ensure that her offspring has a better life and upbringing than she had. This moral is evident world-wide. However, there are instances when some children, on becoming adults, veer away from some of those teachings; and this would reflect that there is a clear disconnect from childhood to adulthood.
Under the heading “All of them killing trace back to one man”, and the jargon of Dr Jagdeo’s mother being an encourager of assumed misconduct, there is no coherence in the article. Thieving and killing plagued this Earth long before the arrival of Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, and will be here long after he departs. So how can he be blamed for it?
This article comes just after Guyana and the rest of the world observe International Women’s Day, and just as we are preparing to celebrate another Mother’s Day. Henceforth, this article reeks of disrespect and ingratitude to mothers, and women in general; and also to a former Head-of-State and a sitting Opposition Leader and his late mother.
Former President Jagdeo has done Guyana proud, and is respected internationally, given the fact that he has received many awards from many global organisations for his work and contributions. But as the old saying states: “A king has no honour in his own land.”
I wonder: if such an attack had been attributed to the current President, Mr David Granger, what would have been the outcome? But again, two old saying state “Monkey know which limb to jump on” and “Tom drunk but Tom ain’t stupid.”
A review of recent happenings will show that women in Guyana have seemingly become targets of disdainful and reprehensible attacks in this new political dispensation. Not only women, but any PPP/C activist or supporter, male or female, seems to be singled out for these attacks, which have now channelled their way to our parents. I wonder what does Minister Dawn Hastings have to say about this article, since in one of our debates in the National Assembly recently she stated that Dem Boys Seh was her favourite column.
As a mother, a politician and a Commissioner on the Women and Gender Equality Commission, I denounce this recent onslaught on the Leader of the Opposition, and on ALL women in general, from a news agency that publishes articles on women in leadership and their contributions to our country’s development. Such utterances coming from an agency that heralds activities such as International Women’s Day, Stop Violence against women, and Mothers’ Day, is hypocritical of their work and support to core values of women.
There is a deafening silence coming from the many women’s rights advocates and their organisations. Are they suffering from the muzzle-me manoeuvre, or the fear frenzy factor, or a little bit of both? Let’s remember: today for me, tomorrow for you; and we all come from a mother.
Sincerely,
Gillian Burton-Persaud
Member of Parliament
