Dear Editor,
The “Man For all Seasons’ cannot even enjoy his birthday peacefully without the Opposition conjuring that, he is not entitled to have a birthday cake and share it because it will be deemed as politicizing the affair and that will be ‘politically unfair.’ The Man from Leonora grew up in a family which taught him not to be selfish and to share even the last dollar that he has. From the sugar estate, he knows that, you cannot ‘suck cane and blow whistle at the said time.’ His life is engrained in the sacrifice of workers and he knows the struggles they endure because he has first-hand knowledge from experience and exposure from since childhood days. He witnessed the cane cutters riding on their ‘slingshot’ bicycles to go to the cane fields at 6 o’clock in the morning, come rain or sun. That is why, you can take him out of the rural area and put him in the urban area, but you cannot separate the sweet from the soil. The man remains full of sugar and not salt, peace not conflict and love and not hate!
He gravitated from rubbing shoulders with comrades in the trench and knows the value of comradery. That is why he shares and cares for those who surround him. Guided by a social philosophy, ‘charity begins at home,’ he knows that family comes first. Versatile in the scriptures, he fully understands the meaning of giving charity, alms, helping the needy and looking out for the less fortunate. Zakat, tithe and daan are not foreign languages to the devotee of the Supreme who shares his time, wisdom, resource and energy with Guyanese of all denominations without discrimination. As a person, why should he refrain from visiting any mosque, church or temple without the interference of sceptics who look through the tainted lens of ‘politricks’ and not politics? Didn’t the ‘Ranger’ go baby patting while attending church?
Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones! Remember the grueling days of Burnham’s beck and call and the loyal GDF soldiers running to serve him at his whims and fancy? The unghastly nights still reign terror when an once outfit of murderous sycophants in GDF uniform, ultimately commanded by the head of the PNC, shot and killed two men in Berbice while they were peacefully protesting the illegal removal of the ballot boxes from the place of poll at the end of voting, during the 1973 General Election. Do you need the help of a stethoscope to hear the marching beat of a political drum? Luckily, the image of the GDF changed for the better, with the likes of Brigadier (rtd.) Godfrey Bess and Chief of Defence Staff, Omar Khan.
There are those who would “eat the cake and want to have it too.” Of course, the Opposition have no desire to recall LFSB, the man who was in charge of all the military forces and used them for his personal protection and to preserve his Party’s existence, dressing up like a presumptuous Churchill General in his outrageous uniform, smoking a Cuban cigar on a horseback, riding with leather booths on the dam of Hope (Despair?) Estate like a colonial master, ordering public servants like slaves and taking pride in a Machiavellian smirk to see subordinates scuttling to please him and watching gleefully many senior civil servants cleaning trenches as he devilishly broke their ego and taunted their pride. Under the microscope, would you uncover political pollution or political problem?
The jury is in on the verdict with the Mulatto Stratum (MS) and the Creole middle Class (CMC). Burnham, head of the Army in his miserable time, the man who wanted to be King for life, had an inferiority complex with his color. It wasn’t all black and beautiful for him as he changed wives from a darker complexion to a lighter complexion to associate with a higher comfort level. The younger generation is lucky not to have the inconvenience of such a distasteful era. He used and abused the Guyana Police Force with his dogmatic dictates rather than pragmatic dictum. LFSB conveniently went horse trotting with a ‘white man’ on Saturday mornings in Kitty up William Street up to the corner of Queen Street, to boost his image. In a Guyana Mounted Police Branch uniform, was the last ‘bakra’ crime chief, his mount prancing next to a President who stole that position. It was no other than ‘Skip’ Roberts! Did the telescope picked up poisoning or politicizing the air of refined horsemanship?
The witch doctor is still seeking a medicine to know whether or not mixing politics with industrial relations is food for the Gods! Mark Lyte is living in the days of civility as leader of the Guyana Teachers Union and has the blessings of a government who is cognizant, acknowledge and accept “the freedom to strike.” He does not have to learn to ‘swim with the sharks’ as former CCWU’s president, Gordon Todd, had to dangerously experience, thanks to the courtesy of the members of the armed force with Burnham as head, in a low flying helicopter out in the turbulent water in the middle of the ocean. With a PNC member as secretary of the union, do you need an olfactometer to detect the odour of politics on site of the teachers’ strike?
Freddy Kisson writes, “If there was a PNC today as it was in pre 1992 with Rabbi Washington, Hamilton Greene, Odinga Lumumba, Aubrey Norton and Philip Bynoe, the culture of inflexible, uncompromising, confrontational politics would have dragged Guyana down.” The House of Israel was led by a fugitive, Rabbi Washington. They were thugs who carried out the violent work of the PNC. July’ 1979, their members murdered Father Darke in broad daylight. You did not need a periscope to spot the close political relationship between Burnham and the Rabbi.
THE GDF and the GPF are no longer for sale and they will refuse to turn the gun in the wrong direction. The military forces have come to realize that they can no longer afford to be fooled by a few but to fight the foe. The men of steel know that, enjoying a light moment is a piece of cake and it’s all in a day’s work for, we must learn to live as brothers, or perish together as fools.
Obama warned, “The cynics may be the loudest voices – but I promise you, they will accomplish the least.”
Yours respectfully,
Jai Lall.