Dear Editor,
A majority of owners of minibuses give operators their bus to work and have various conditions they have to work the bus including the time of collecting and dropping off the bus, maintenance, and the target (amount of money for the bus each day). Now, one of the first things most operators do is to ensure that they put aside their money for the day first so should any mishap occur to the bus, they have their day’s money intact whilst the owners would be without, depending on the time. In other words, they put themselves first. After being frustrated about the way Guyana was being governed by the previous Administration, many of us campaigned vigilantly with this present Administration and after their success, we were all shocked to see this Government reducing themselves, very similar to minibus operators, ensuring they are okay first and then down to business. According to the President, increasing their salaries would stamp out corruption. Ironically, we started to see credible proof of corruption in this present Administration and bullyism worse than the previous Administration. They blatantly continue business as usual while the public forms their own opinion of them. Despite their assurances that things would be better, they choose to take things for granted and were caught with their pants down at the last concluded Local Government Election. Before they could fully bounce back, again, their world was rocked with the No-Confidence Motion. The two actions caught them unprepared and they conceded defeat but Nigel Hughes quickly came with their rescue with a strange explanation which had them running breathlessly to the High Court and the Appeal Court in which the latter passed a judgment in their favour and now the Opposition is running to a much higher court for satisfaction. With the action by the Government, it clearly shows that they will not be giving up power and we also see a rush by this Administration to award and finish pending projects.
Editor, with all that happening of recent, all sorts of things could be said in and out of favour of this Administration but social media seems to be buzzing with newsfeeds and videos that should be of great concern to us all. There are various incidents of bullyish attitudes being shown and the latest is a student of Christ Church Secondary School who seems to either be in Grade Seven or Grade Eight in a physical confrontation with a teacher. In the background, you can hear a female voice saying dump her in the bin. There are incidents of students and teachers being involved in illicit drugs. Then we have the various hospitals having numerous infant deaths where most of those concerned believe that negligence is the main cause. I am not scared to pen it but at many public places you go to conduct any sort of business, there is a serious change in attitudes and when you voice your opinion, it falls on deaf ears.
These behaviours are strange and alarmingly, it seems to originate from schools. My only logical reasoning is that because they are seeing the actions of the Government and the Government’s abuse of power, they are telling themselves they can get away with whatever they are doing too.
Sincerely,
Sahadeo Bates
