I grew up hearing about a gentleman’s agreement. I also grew up hearing the saying, ’A man’s word is his bond’. It meant that when one gives his word he is expected to keep it. Failing to do this would mean that a person who gives his word and does not keep it cannot be trusted.
One must now ask whether President Irfaan Ali can be trusted. He stood in the National Assembly during a budget presentation in 2019 and announced that his government would pay public servants a salary increase of more than 20 per cent.
There were people who believed him. On that occasion he also spoke about giving the teachers their just deserts. In the latter case, one can say that he kept his word. In his book they deserve precious little so he kept his word.
With pride, he announced an across the board eight per cent for public servants, teachers, government pensioners, members of the disciplined services and government Ministers. Of course, charity does not only exist in the Pomeroon. It begins at home.
Coming as it does at this time, ahead of the Christmas holidays, and coming retroactively to January, these categories of workers would receive a lump sum. As the older people would say, half a loaf is better than no loaf.
Sadly, with this increase would also come increases in prices in the marketplace. This is traditional. The businessmen and vendors always say that if the working class gets an increase then so too must the business class.
The harsh reality is that with the increasing hardships, life in households becomes more difficult. Today, the society is reeling from the spate of domestic violence. Some of this is linked to the economic hardships people face.
There is talk about Men of Mission and of special bodies to relate to victims of domestic violence.
There is talk about counselling services and consultancies that would help to limit the extent of domestic violence. Just this week the police, which reported a drop in violent crimes this week, reported that a man stabbed a 20-year-old teacher to death and ran. They found his body hanging in an abandoned house Tuesday morning. And that was not the only case of a man killing a woman.
To put these killings in perspective one needs to understand that most of the men who kill women ARE NOT rational thinking men. They fail to reason. An examination would reveal that they did not pursue a high level of academic education.
The higher the level of education, the less likely would a man resort to violence against women. This does not mean that highly intelligent men do not attack women but on a scale of one to ten, the likelihood of an educated man killing would be one.
The solution to this problem, or the ability to minimise men killing women would be to ensure that both men and women pursue their education. The highfalutin educators would talk about ego and superego. The superego is the thing that enhances reasoning.
A man sees something that he wants. He thinks about the consequences of attempting to obtain it by other than lawful means. If the consequences are too severe then the man would leave that desirable object.
In the same way, the educated person would be less likely to break into a house to commit a robbery. These things make one wonder at the eight per cent offered by Irfaan Ali.
People would remain poor. Even the government-supporting trade union umbrella organization, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana, FITUG—in a statement issued on Tuesday, said that despite the eight per cent some people would actually be worse off than they were before the offer.
If parents following the receipt of the eight per cent find it difficult to send their children to school, then the learning ability of those children would be diminished. The boys are more likely to be school dropouts. These are the people most likely to be fathers who would not be among the best. They are likely to be the abusers, the people who would give up on ever becoming somebody in life.
The girls from such situations would be out to fend for themselves. They are the people likely to be victims of abuse because of poor choices. I say likely because many women from such situations turn out well. They never allow the situation to determine their future.
But the government, if it is serious about eliminating domestic violence, must do more to help the poor family. These days, there need not be dependence on those exports that struggled on the international market—exports like rice, sugar and bauxite.
The government has never had it so good. Trinidad, with perhaps one-tenth of the oil resources of this country, did remarkably well for its people. Guyanese rushed to Trinidad.
Here we are as a government still behaving as though we have to bring out the begging bowl. We still starve our people; we deny them a living wage and we justify our decisions.
Just the other day Minister Vickram Bharrat told some residents that they should not hold out high expectations. He must be a sick man. Indeed, people must hold out high expectations.
On Tuesday, Opposition Member of Parliament, Ganesh Mahipaul told a press conference that the actions of a government reflect what that government has in its heart. He concluded that the government has only ill will in its heart.
The result is precious little for the people.
