No amount of oil wealth can repair a shredded character

Dear Editor,
On Saturday, December 22, 2018, all the media publications locally and abroad carried and captioned the following: – The motion was carried and the Government of Guyana must call elections within ninety days. The vote would require the formal resignation of the President and the Cabinet and necessitate a new general election.
If you had done the above, you would have kept intact your integrity. No amount of oil wealth can repair a shredded character.
This has not happened, and your illegal hold onto power tells God, His angels, and thinking humanity that you’re a dishonest man. You’re suffering from “truth” decay. Your toxic leadership has led to a toxic culture; just look at the many robberies, the suffering of the sugar workers, the plight of the old and sick, the hardships of our Indigenous brothers and sisters. Yes, you’re directly responsible for all of it.
You could have done what Boris Johnson did in the UK. I don’t like Boris at all. But he must be respected! He called the election which the Opposition wanted and he won massively – even he did not expect it. But you have delayed a constitutionally eligible election through bullyism.
What a pity! You have lost all respect. You’re now a despot. And when your time comes to relinquish power… as it will come…history won’t be kind.
As one Christian editor wrote truthfully about Donald Trump: “None of the President’s positives can balance the moral and political danger we face under a leader of such grossly immoral character…Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr Trump’s immoral words and behaviour in the cause of political expediency”. This is also applicable to you.
You claim to be Christian. You even go to church. So let’s use wisdom from the Bible to appeal to whatever is left of your conscience and common sense. Your Government was toppled one year ago by the no-confidence vote. But still, you cling on to power violating the principles of your Bible. The media refers to you as “President” but in your heart of hearts, you know that such a title does not belong to you anymore. You’re like the emperor with no clothes being told that his “clothes” are splendid.
Today, amidst all the twinkling lights, decorations, gleeful holiday carols, festive parties, and holiday sales, a more sombre spirit resides in many homes especially due to the spate of robberies and those who have been senselessly killed on the roads due to speeding. There is weeping and mourning for lost loved ones. There is loneliness and despair on the margins of every celebration. There are cries for justice that go up and interrupt the mainstream revelry and festivity that is the Christmas season.
Traditionally, the season that precedes Christmas, the Advent season, is a sombre season. It is a season that calls for repentance and reflection. For during the Advent season, another voice from the margins of society calls for repentance, righteousness, and justice. It is the voice of John the Baptiser crying out from the wilderness.
John’s voice, often forgotten in our hurried, holiday preparations, is crucial to the understanding of this season. His is such a crucial message: “As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” (Mark 1:1-3).
Finally, Sir Walter Scott said, “O what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive”. It was exactly one year ago that this happened. Guyana’s APNU/AFC Government fell in a no-confidence vote!

Yours sincerely,
Richard Moore