Dear Editor,
I recall very recently an insurgence of anger when His Excellency, President David A Granger went to Parliament to give a speech and the Opposition was a no show at the sitting. From this incident, there erupted a strong debate on the respectability of the Opposition holders of office and their alleged disregard for political cohesion. One Government Minister on his Facebook page had posted on the need for respect and courtesy, especially to the President. The official then went on to say that “kid gloves will be taken off since an unwritten line will be crossed – the actions which the general public has been demanding (punishment for crimes of corruption) will go into a higher gear, building cases against alleged corrupt officials will now be at the forefront.”
I am personally terrified about such statements since they do not speak on peace and justice, but auras vengeance. It is known that through the Court and law system, any Government can always find incriminating information using their resources, whether locally or foreign, and this can be seen in countries like Brazil and Colombia. Today, most governments last for about two terms and if one goes after the other, such actions are almost always reciprocated when political power is reversed. To my memory, the previous Government in 1992 did not have a campaign on charging and imprisoning the officials of the former Government even for the period of the 70’s and 80’s.
As the National Chairman of the Universal Peace Federation Guyana Chapter, a concerned citizen, a trained Police technologist, a social person who loves and respects everyone, it worries me that our agenda for national cohesion and the dream of our ancestors for political unity is quickly fading. No government stays in power forever. His Excellency President Granger in my opinion is a man of peace. I believe that he should ignore the political commentators who wish for him to destroy his legacy of care for posterity. President Granger has been repeatedly calling for peace through social cohesion, by most admirably reaching out to the Opposition for talks on national issues. I am terrified that this neatly written agenda is being erased by certain factions.
The undersigned is qualified in conflict resolution, a trained court mediator along with my colleague, General Secretary of the Universal Peace Federation and Chairman of the Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO), Reverend Ronald Mc Garrell.
We are both most willing to broker a communication channel between this country’s two political entities. Guyana can only benefit. Attempts are already being made to charge and prosecute officials of the previous Government. While the executive arm can find information very easily, the law is supreme, and the judicial system should be allowed to freely do its job. If the now Opposition returns to power, I fear a tit-for-tat through social and political avenues. A new Government if previously threatened will likely resort to an aggressive route and this will cause a catastrophe for Guyana. We must identify the individuals or groups who do not have the interest of Guyana at heart, the ones with ulterior motives and the political saboteurs. We must never destroy the contributions of the ones that came before us.
So charging the leader of an entity or putting such a person into trouble with the law will only cause the non-right thinking supporters of that party to sabotage the country and people. As Former President, Mr Hugh Desmond Hoyte (my hero) famously said, “slow fire, mo fire”, after which we saw buildings go up in flames causing the tax payers of this country millions upon millions of dollars.
I believe this kind of revenge politics will have disastrous consequences for Guyana, and on the psyche of our people. This Government is still fresh and I believe that the direction of ‘going after’ should not be taken against another. Instead, ‘going together’ should be pursued to inscribe it into the minds of the Guyanese people. Let us make amends with each other. If one regime tits, the other should not tat.
Yours sincerely,
Hajji Roshan Khan.
