Dear Editor,
There is a particularly unique brand of crassness that can only be cultivated in the halls of absolute power. It is the kind of hubris that believes a population is so easily distracted by the glitter of oil wealth and infrastructure that they will forget the stains on the fabric of our national leadership. The recent re-insertion of Nigel Dharamlall into the public sphere as the “Director of Government Efficiency” is not just a policy decision; it is a calculated middle finger to the women, the Indigenous communities, and the moral conscience of Guyana.
In the theater of politics, men do not resign from powerful Cabinet posts and Parliamentary seats out of “unlucky timing.” They resign when the weight of an allegation is so heavy it threatens to sink the entire ship. While the legal process was halted following the withdrawal of the complainant’s statement, the act of stepping down remains a haunting admission of the untenable. Yet, the Government of Guyana seems to believe that a resignation is merely a “pause” button rather than a permanent disqualification.
By finding a backdoor for Dharamlall to return to state-funded authority, the administration has sent a chilling message to every woman and girl in Guyana: your safety and dignity are negotiable, and your trauma is merely a temporary political hurdle. It is an insult to the intelligence of the Guyanese people to suggest that in a country of nearly a million souls, we are so intellectually bankrupt and devoid of talent that we must resort to a man who left office under the darkest of clouds. To suggest that Dharamlall is the only person capable of driving “efficiency” is a pathetic indictment of every other professional in this country.
The activists—those relentless voices in the streets and online—are right to be outraged, and they must keep advocating. Their persistence is the only thing standing between us and a total descent into a culture where power serves as an all-access pass to impunity. If “Government Efficiency” now wears the face of a man who resigned in the wake of grooming and rape allegations, then we must ask what exactly the government is trying to be efficient at. Is it the efficiency of erasing accountability?
Mr. Dharamlall, if you had any shred of respect for the office you once held or the people you claimed to serve, you would have stayed in the shadows. To accept a public-facing role is to demand a “reset” that has not been earned and can never be granted by a simple title change. As for the GoG, public office is a privilege, not a playground for party loyalists who have fallen from grace. By insisting on this appointment, the government has shown a profound disdain for the very people it represents, banking on a collective amnesia that simply does not exist. We are not forgetting; we are watching, and we are still waiting for a leadership that values the integrity of its daughters more than the “efficiency” of its operatives.
Respectfully,
Hemdutt Kumar
