Dear Editor,
Over time words and phrases in a language undergo changes, and sometimes current conditions distort the original meaning as intended by the creators of certain words and phrases. In Guyana like the rest of the “so called” free world democracy has shifted, like the sand on the beach, in meaning. Democracy identifies a system of government where a constitution and its various articles are considered sacrosanct.
I was among those who at midnight of the 26th of May 1966, witness then Lieutenant Desmond Roberts gracefully hoisted our National Flag at the Queen Elizabeth Park in Georgetown, as our flag, the Golden Arrowhead, proudly fluttered by the northeast trade winds, the Union Jack, the flag of our most recent European masters was lowered.
That event triggered the famous ‘bearhug’ with Dr Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham, to the enthusiast applause and, I dare say, approved of the packed National Park. We were free from the bondage of slavery, indentureship, and colonialism. Ironically the northeast trade winds were the same winds that guided the ships with passengers from the West Coast of Africa to be enslaved on arrival in this country. After 1938 other ships guided by the trade winds brought indentured labourers, who worked hard to produce cotton and sugar for the benefit of the master class.
A sad situation is that some folks, now in charge of our country seem not to understand the struggle and sacrifices of our noble ancestors. I refer to a few instances which make our democracy to translate into “demons mocking like crazy”. We have in response to a foreign power, our government paying the massive sum of over 50,000 USD to a law firm in the extradition issue of the Mohammeds. I have been in public life before and after independence and there is no precedent for this abject surrender of our independence and sovereignty, this is not democracy, but demons mocking like crazy.
This vast sum could have been used by Georgetown municipality to facilitate immediate clean up and drainage operation, but instead we have the honourable Minister of Local Government and colleagues descending on the Stabroek Market square to launch a purported clean up exercise, the responsibility of the Local Government Authority, the Georgetown City Council. The sad part is, that with full government sponsored media, the Minister makes the announcement in the presence of an unsuspecting Mayor and some councillors.
Mind you, the committee to carry out the exercise includes the City Engineer and the head of the solid waste department, two officers identified with neither consultation nor agreement of the M&CC. Democracy no, demons mocking like crazy. The irony of this is, to secure the integrity of drainage in Georgetown requires no “rocket science”, when Professor Akbar Khan, who sent over a year to examine Georgetown, proposed a number of measures, all were frustrated by the PPP administration.
Those of us who know the history of Georgetown recognise that the Dutch and the British knew what they were doing, when for no other than strategic reasons Georgetown became the capital. Previous administrations unwittingly made serious mistakes, one example is filling up the Punt-trench canal, dough forty feet by slaves.
To save Georgetown we need a plan, an execution of proposals, and most of all to ensure that those who live and pass through Georgetown obey all of the by-laws. Instead, we, not for the first time, are embarking on a propaganda blitz. All the while making the city an ugly place, where zoning – residential and commercial areas have become alien concepts. To restore Georgetown it is possible, but the ministry must take their ‘steel-heel’ of the necks of the M&CC.
We must still dream to mirror this description of Georgetown, by Henry Kirke, Sheriff of Demerara, in his book “Twenty-five years in British Guiana” when he observed on page 10; “The city is empowered in trees: its aspects from the top of the lighthouse is a sea of palms, out of which rise at intervals towers, spires, and campanile.
For a great part of the year, the flamboyant trees make your eyes ache with the gorgeousness of their scarlet flowers, whilst in September and October the long-johns break the sky line with their rich cream-coloured plumes, changing week by week to a real burnt sienna. The brilliancy of the flowers is rivalled by the gay scarlets, yellows, and greens, which clothe the limbs of the delicate Hindoos and stalwart negresses perambulating the streets.” A city where boys could swim in the several waterways because they are clean and safe.
Next, in any functional democracy the parliament, by established rules, must identify the leader of the opposition. Elections were held on the 1st of September, parliament met on the 3rd of November, and we still are without a leader of the opposition, democracy no, demons mocking like crazy. Then we have machinations of the judiciary where the chancellor and chief justice are actors like Hollywood film stars.
Yours truly,
Hamilton Green
Elder
