Dear Editor,
The great tragedy of Guyanese politics is the narrative of our division, propagated by self-interest politicians and an opposition party reliant on outrage to drive turnout instead of passion and inspiration. The more we believe that our struggles exist among ourselves instead of against wealthy corporate interests and unchecked power, the less able we are to unify around common values.
Leaders and residents in Region 10, and our nation in order to heal the wounds of manufactured division, we must re-discover a sense of purpose built around those shared values. We have to re-discover the courage of past generations that defeated fascism. These moments of action were inspired by crisis and challenges. Our circumstances today are no different. COVID-19, massive inequality. Our path to unity and healing revolves around just that: extending our new Government’s dream and its promise of progress to every Guyanese who has been locked out under the previous APNU/AFC Administration.
However, our PPP/C Government’s national COVID-19 relief and support programme – $25,000 per a household – can be that new national project which will be built around our shared values — free from partisanship, guided by policy and principles. It means reckoning with our extreme inequality, our legacy of systemic racism and divisive system of politics. Our PPP/C Government guarantees healthcare, where every life matters, where education doesn’t come with lifelong debt, where housing isn’t out of reach and where everyone lives a life of dignity. We need to embrace our Government as a force for good.
Until we heal the anguish of our nation’s despair, we cannot bridge divides born of struggling to survive. Lindeners – Guyanese, we hold the power; we just have to re-discover it. Our current state of affairs is a self-fulfilling prophecy of despair and doubt. But it doesn’t have to stay that way. Our Government has paved that path and made that commitment to every Guyanese to break beyond party identity, empowering us to come together as a single collective voice of citizens. The question before all of us: How do we come together? How do we heal our divides? First, we have to recognise that we’re more unified than we imagine. The truth is that politics shouldn’t be so confrontational or conflicted. The solutions are out there and Guyana is for all Guyanese and we must reject those who seek to divide us, those with the nefarious plans aiming to divide and cripple Guyana. The People’s Progressive Party/Civic Government over the past three months has been working to ensure that every Guyanese reaps the benefits of the development that is to come in the future and is already here. Their primary objective is to ensure that every Guyanese is treated fairly and prospers under the PPP/C Administration, especially our young people. Let us grasp at every opportunity. As our country prepares for further development, we must be reminded that Guyana belongs to every Guyanese and as leaders, we must put our country above selfish ideals which is imperative as we come together since “there is always strength in unity”. We must, as a town, as a nation, ask ourselves the question, is this our destiny? And we must take courage and answer definitively. Since our PPP/C encourages us daily to garner the strength and put aside the divisiveness in party politics, religion, class and elitism and work towards the creation of an egalitarian society that lacks social stratification with the exception of inequality based on ability and age which provides equal access to resources and prestige to all Guyanese. Our elected Government is working tirelessly to deliver for our people and to ensure that Guyana is the place to live if we are going to prosper in a true sense.
Sincerely,
David Adams
