My vision for Guyana is for national unity

Dear Editor,
One reason to write a letter to the press is to flush from the deep thickets of the self, some thoughts and feelings you didn’t know were in you as you try to document your understanding of the world. You ardent wish every time you start to write that letter, is that the reader comprehends what you have written. But I cannot take responsibility for the low comprehension skills of Vishnu Bisram as he missed completely the intent and objective of my letter to the press on rural Guyana v urban Guyana with respect to the formation of the new ERC.
My letter is there for the records so I have no intention of wasting the editor’s time or humouring Bisram’s ignorance by regurgitating that letter. What I do have is some clarification for the reading public to put to rest Bisram’s attempt at falsehoods.
1. I was an AFC member who was on the 2011 list of candidates.
2. I resigned from the AFC in 2014 and politely decline that my name should be considered for the 2015 list of candidates because of professional reasons that had nothing to do with Guyana or Guyanese politics.
3. I used my presence on social media and in the local media to help the APNUAFC campaign in 2015 but what I did not do was return to Guyana anytime between December 2011 and February 2016.
4. Choosing between a Ramotar and a Granger is a very easy choice and if the circumstances were the same I would have no difficulty choosing a Granger over a Ramotar. However if the choice was a Ramkarran v a Granger, that is a very different choice that may deserve a very different response. My support is not bequeathed based on race but on whom I see will be better for Guyana.
5. I was very careful in crafting my letter to ensure I compared and contrasted rural v urban and used as my examples the rural Hindus and rural youths. I could have very well used rural Afro-Guyanese or rural women as my examples but as my letter clearly spelt out, there were space constraints.
If Bisram would have read my letter carefully, he would have noted I mentioned representation for Buxton and Victoria in equal strength to Albion and Enmore. My sole intent was representation for rural Guyana. I clearly do not need Bisram to put words into my mouth or ink in my pen.
6. My letter was not a complaint or to blame anyone or any government but an observation. I have since been advised it is being considered at the highest levels and that is all that matters to me, that rural Guyana is given greater consideration into the appointment of the next ERC.
7. When called upon to support one or the other in May 2015, I supported Team Granger and that is my democratic right. I would be the first one to state that many policy and political mistakes were made since May 2015 and for those who have eyes they will see that my column in the Kaieteur News called the “Voice of the Liberal Democrats” has given the government credit where it deserves and called it out when necessary.
Isn’t this what citizens ought to do, hold their government accountable rather than metamorphosing into pandering sycophants of a political party because of ethnic insecurity or personal loyalty to politician X or Y?
8. Bisram accused me of holding government positions. What has he been smoking lately? I do not hold any government of Guyana position officially or unofficially, do not serve on any boards and the one act I did for this government was to write a column for the Guyana Chronicle called “Straight Talk” for a few months. And if I serve the Government of Guyana, so what, isn’t that what Guyanese ought to be doing – serving their people at any conceivable level?
So Bisram owes the foundation of truth an apology for abusing that truth with so many manufactured falsehoods in his letter to the Guyana Times. One of the first things any PhD student does is use every opportunity to verify the accuracy of the information at his disposal. From Bisram’s writing, it is clear he is yet to join the programme.
But I did find one nugget of agreement with Bisram, which was “The few MPs who truly cared about rural life were Ravi Dev (ROAR) and Veerasammy Rammayah (AFC) and that is because they lived in the rural community.”
It is a fact that it was credible rural leaders like Dr Rammayah who orchestrated the swing vote for the APNUAFC Coalition to be in power today and President Granger understood that reality. That is why he overruled the Gang of 6 in the AFC by appointing Dr Rammayah as the REO of Region 6.
If Bisram wants to write a letter replete with falsehood, who am I to stop him? But in future, it would be advisable that we operate in mutually exclusive circles since his vision for Guyana has very little in common with my vision for Guyana.
He is all about a narrow agenda of Indo-Guyanese domination; I am all about a broad agenda of national unity and leveraging the talent of all our people to lift all boats. We clearly are not in the same class.
Bisram should learn this quote carefully in spite of his comprehension challenge, “it is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak (or in his case write) and remove all doubts”.
I do not intend to continue this debate with Bisram and therefore this is my last letter on this topic.

Regards
Sase Singh