How dare the British High Commissioner lecture us on corruption

Dear Editor,
“Corruption matters because it corrodes the fabric of society. It undermines people’s trust in the systems of society and institutions of society; it is an obstacle to democracy and to the rule of law, it depletes national wealth and degrades the physical environment.” So said British High Commissioner to Guyana, Greg Quinn. He should know because he represents a country that sent privateers on a hot afternoon in September 1668 to raid the Spanish town of Portobelo, in Central America. These British subjects working under the flag of England stole 25,000 pieces of silver from the Spanish who had in turn stolen it from the native people of today’s Panama and Colombia. Leading this band of British brigands was none other than Sir Henry Morgan, a Welshman who made his living by State-sponsored theft and violence. What Ambassador Quinn did not tell the nation is that men like Morgan were the founding fathers of today’s British wealth. Their modus operandi then was not in ruling other countries, but robbing them. So how dare the High Commissioner try to lecture Guyanese on corruption when his entire country was born in corruption and exist today because of corruption. Isn’t that hypocritical? I would gladly welcome a lecture on corruption from the Mexican Ambassador or the Indian High Commissioner, both countries that were plundered by the Spanish and British respectively, but never from a limey.

Regards,
Albert Allen