Dear Editor,
I have just returned from the funeral service for the late Robert H O Corbin, CCH, a grand Guyanese who served with distinction from his early teens. It was a fitting farewell, in spite of a mild touch hyperbole from some of the presenters. Upon reflection I felt compelled to deal with this important question of the state of our moral sense.
Over the years, efforts have been made to inject a moral sense into the veins of our political leaders, I quote from the Encyclopedia of Philosophy, where this question was raised; “if morality is not founded on God’s will, where is the foundation laid?… the most promising direction for a search appeared to be in human nature itself.”
“The first Englishman to search for the foundation of morals in human nature, Thomas Hobbs, returned with a brilliantly stated but outrageous report. He found that “good” and “evil” are relative to the person who uses these words.” … “As for our motives for pursuing good and avoiding evil, they may be summed up as self-interest.” Is this our dilemma in Guyana?
Generations in every corner of the globe have always been influenced and conditioned by tall tantalising tales told by the master class, a group of persons in charge of our education, information, history and now technological apparatus. I avoid the tedium of examining history as told to us by our erstwhile European masters, safe to say that history may be repeating itself.
One example is sufficient; as a youngster if you wanted to insult someone who may have committed some error of judgement or behaved as a delinquent or a buffoon, we would state that he or she “must have come from Timbuktu”. It is only as an adult studying the several continents that I discovered that Timbuktu, contrary to its earlier characterisation, was an advanced centre of learning and culture in West Africa, the envy of those in Europe and elsewhere.
This deception has led to the twisting of our history, by a master class. The deception of what is real and true continues in Guyana unabated. This situation is the foundation upon which corruption, immorality and evil thrives, and unless this condition is recognised, and curative actions taken, like the Barima, we will sink taking lives, property and our history.
Over the years, saints and prophets came on earth with messages, rules and laws to ensure that a certain moral code dictates our lives and conditions our beliefs, from Apostacy, to Bahai, to Buddhism, to Christianity, to Hinduism, to Islam, to Judaism, and the Rastafarians belief, these amount others have set up rules and a moral code to determine what is right or wrong, what is acceptable or unacceptable in a modern society.
Here lies the massive problem in Guyana, those who have been charged as religious leaders oft times succumb to the attraction of material things doled out by an administration that is neither untainted, nor cling to the rules and precepts of the several beliefs they, the government, publicly claim to support.
A few hours ago, we learnt of a proposal for the closure of J.E. Burnham Primary School in Kitty, no discussion, no explanation, but most likely part of an ongoing process of ‘brain-washing’ and influencing the new generation, by distorting and destroying our history.
Today we have in office a party founded, on the foundation of justice, socialist principles and the pursuit of irradicating the evils and disparities of colonialism. Yet, we now allocate to ordinary citizens about eight house lots per one acre of land, but we have one superstar, from photographic evidence, being allocated at least one hundred and fifty acres of land.
Earlier this week, the Opposition leader, Azruddin Mohamed was, not for the first time, hauled into a police station, the police alleged that despite earlier searches, an unlicensed handgun was found under the acceleration pedal of the car. Few, very few, would believe this ‘nancy-story’. How could you operate a car with a gun underneath the acceleration pedal?
Of course, we are yet to obtain a report of a single bridge, road, dam, canal structure, or building that was satisfactorily completed within the tendered budget allocation and time frame. But the spending spree continues unabated. Now we are hearing that government may have to pay for the maintenance of the pipeline, that should have been put to use two years ago. We are also told that to ease the pressure causing ‘black-outs’ we should, in the fastest growing economy, use less fans and air-conditioning units. That is progress according to this administration.
It is unnecessary to burden this letter with details and issues which the independent media have been bringing to light. The time has come for citizens everywhere to wake-up and do what is necessary to arrest this decline before it is too late. Years ago, based on Edwards Bulwer-Lytton play “the Conspiracy”, we were persuaded that the ‘pen is mightier than the sword’. In spite of the gloom in Guyana and elsewhere, let us remain optimistic.
Yours truly,
Elder Hamilton Green
