How can we toast to season?
Dear Editor,
In Guyana, as in most countries of the world, we are celebrating Christmas this week.
Tradition has it that we send greetings, offering peace and goodwill to mankind, and as such on behalf of my wife, family and community wish everyone a happy and happy Christmas.
But Dear Editor, after distributing this necessary courtesy, if we are to fulfill these wishes as a nation, we must first try to understand that the harmony and spirit of societies characterized at Christmas are nowhere especially the plural society, all of the three hundred and sixty-five days of each year.
GHK Lall’s letter is second to none.
We need to commend the group that makes up the Constitutional Reform Group (CRG) and would believe that our political leaders in and out of office are truly committed to constitutional reform.
If all of the above comes to fruition and we hope it does, there will be only one small step on the winding road to reach the plateau of harmony, justice and decency that we all hope for.
Our dream of a country, where the bouncy and precious natural resources (minerals, marine resources, fertile lands and now oil) are harvested and distributed equitably and in our case, reverse the growing gap between the haves and the have-nots.
The time has come for us as a small country to learn and benefit from humanity’s stay on earth.
The key is for educational and religious institutions to produce leaders who are married to moral law.
We learn from the teachings of the General Federation of Peace that “‘Divine Law, the irrecoverable law of nature is essentially moral.’
It embraces one principle – the cosmological, ethical, social and legal circles.
Therefore, religion cannot accept the modern distinction between fact and value, rather the moral law governing human life is as absolute as the law of gravity.
Great and thought provoking, but from our ancestors to our contemporaries, we have tended to be misguided, selfish and distant.
This is why all Englishmen, saints and prophets have thought it wise to lay down laws to direct the way we behave and treat each other like Moses coming down from the mountain with the Ten Order.
I tell those who propose Constitutional reform that we need to direct our energy into producing leaders, who are morally uplifting and deep down believing in justice for all their people, no matter what race, color, belief or political affiliation.
The educational system must be reshaped to highlight our common weaknesses and failures, if we are to avoid repeating past mistakes.
To explain, for example, why do people rebel? Explain the genesis of a popular uprising, such as Russia 1917, Cuba 1959. Explain national rebellions, such as Greece 1820, Vietnam 1946-75.
Even where man-made Constitutions existed, the power of ideology was as we have seen in England 1642-49, France 1789 and America 1776.
In all of this, the weight and influence of external forces should never be ignored.
In our Guyana, our two greatest national heroes, Dr. Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham, facing the stresses and strains of the laborious Cold War of 1945-1985, bursting with flames and the muscle of ideology.
The fact that our two leaders have responded differently to this political, international epidemic is, of course, another matter.
Beyond Guyana, we have seen the plethora of alliances, treaties and agreements between and among national leaders and their states ignored because one or both sides were not married to moral principles, by leading to wars, conflicts, destruction of property and the loss of millions of innocent lives. .
The big question remains, when will we learn? When do we recognize that decisions made should be informed by moral law?
I expect this week for our Head of State and Leader of the Opposition to extend greetings, but how should hundreds who have been summarily dismissed respond?
How should the family of tortured Henry’s cousins have a happy Christmas?
How could a murdered teenager’s friend Haresh Singh have a Merry Christmas?
How do we expect them to have a Happy Christmas when members of Henry’s family, who were returning to their homes after attending a meeting at Brickdam Cathedral, are found to be harassed by parts of our Force set up to serve and protect? How can we cope with the unnecessary attack on the Ethnic Relations Commission, with no one other than our sitting Head of State?
How can we celebrate when the perception of the Coalition members / supporters feels as Marcellus said in Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “something has rotted in the State of Denmark?”
How can we truly celebrate with our frontline health workers and security forces, who, with this huge flow of oil money, are being offered money as they seek to secure our welfare against COVID-19 and protect citizens and ensure our permeable boundaries?
How can we toast this term facing irresponsible and lazy leaders on both sides of our political divide?
For the term to be meaningful, the Public Accounts Committee must be energized, the Integrity Commission must no longer be a toothless tiger and the Public Service must be free from the practice of clear political appointments, not based on experience, competence and qualifications. .
Here, the coalition led by PNCR and the PPP / C are guilty, stealing the public service of being staffed by men and women, who, thanks to their qualifications, can perform their functions fearlessly and maintain the highest level of professionalism.
Those who beat their chest about Constitutional Reform also need to ensure that GECOM’s membership is based solely on recognizing individuals of undoubted honesty and patriotism.
We, for too long, have had the ridiculous situation, where, on all important matters, the chairman has been placed in an uncomfortable position to cut the circular deadlocks, or should I have written dreadlocks.
The Judiciary is supposed to be vital and independent, yet both governments seem unambiguous.
Those acting in the key roles of Chancellor and Chief Justice could win the Hollywood Grammy Award for acting.
I am an optimist and therefore wish the media a Guyanese Christmas, a Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.
Hamilton Green