Dev, a military personnel?
Ravi Dev keeps going on about the Guyana Police Force, seemingly, as if he is a great expert on Police operations. If he has any background in the military or has police training, I am unaware. In a way he is keeping true to form, since the Opposition forces criticize every action of the Government.

Mr. Dev stated that Afro Guyanese were instituted in the Police Force to suppress the Indians. He also said that the Police Force has historically acted against the Indians and during the PNC era this role was exacerbated.

He also stated that the Police Force should reflect the composition of the country. Maybe Mr. Dev is unaware that during the Burnham years Indians were not given the opportunity to join these forces, so they expressed little interest later.

The PPP/C Government has been trying to balance the force, which is evident from the number of Indian ranks in the Police Force and Army.

If Mr. Dev is so concerned about the imbalance in the security forces, then he should mobilize his supporters to join instead of criticizing the efforts of the Government. Let the people see evidence of his efforts in this direction. Let him move his rhetoric from the level of idealism to the level of a materialist base.
Sharmilla Persaud

 

Why should PPP/C supporters accede to PNCR’s demands?
I am concerned at the way members of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) keep preaching shared governance. The question I need to put to the PNC/R is had you been at the helm, would you be willing to share that power? I think not.

The PNCR just wants power, one way or another, and it seems that it would do anything to do so. It has also adopted the Machiavellian principle the end result justifies the means.

We are all Guyanese, no lesser than the people who contest elections, and as PPP/C supporters I do not think that the PNCR should expect us to accede to its demands.

We did not vote for the PPP/C-PNCR. We all voted PPP/C and the people spoke, as the ballots reflected. Our duly elected Government should not even consider the demand, since the PPP has already given many concessions to the PNCR.

The People’s Progressive Party included a Civic component to the party and I think that’s inclusive enough. During the PNC era, the opposition was called the minority but when the PPP gained office, the PNC did not want to be the minority, so Government made the change. The ‘minority’ no longer exists; it is now called the Opposition.

Additionally, the Elections Commissioner is no longer hand picked by the President, the PNCR is now asked to submit a list of five names out of which one is selected, so in that way the PNCR has a say in the decision.

A race relations commission was established and given Constitutional status, since the PNCR kept screaming that their supporters experienced discrimination. A Race Relations Commission was proposed with Bishop Randolph George as its Head. The PNC under Hoyte refused to recognize the body because they could not have accepted Bishop George.

An Integrity Commission was also established mandating Government officials to submit their salaries and possessions to be recorded every year. Most PNCR MPs have not complied.

Several joint committees were also established through the dialogue; these joint committees have generated considerable benefits to all Guyanese. Where in the Caribbean, or the world for that matter, is the Opposition allowed that amount of power? Anyway in any democratic system, Government officials and members of the Opposition can’t all be sitting in the same Cabinet.

Perhaps, the PNC/R should consider getting out of the political arena, since they can’t win any election without seeking to rig the results and cheat the nation.
Rekha Budhna

 

Disappointed with cancellation of games
PLEASE allow me space in your letter column to express my disappointment with the actions of the Guyana Teachers Union with regard to their withdrawal from the Schools Annual Track and Field Championship games and their strike action.

The Guyana Teachers Union has requested its members to stay away from their jobs for two days per week indefinitely. Their main concern expressed so far is that cleaners are being paid more than some teachers. I would like to ask the President of the Union, who, I am sure no one ever heard of until his election as President, a few questions:

Prior to 1992, was there any strike action by the GTU?

Was it possible for the GTU to issue strike ultimatum?

Were teachers satisfied with their Salaries?

Were teacher’s grievances addressed by the said Union?

Conduct a survey in the Schools to determine teacher’s qualifications. You will be surprised.

Are all teachers in the system efficiently and effectively utilised?

What crime have the students committed to be denied the opportunity of their expectation?

If the GTU can use the students of this Country for their own gain, then, what is next?

In other sectors of the economy, employees are paid on their qualifications and performance. What is/are teachers being paid by, performance, qualification or across-the-board increase?

There are many more questions that could be asked that the president and members of the GTU are well aware of and are quick to cast aside.

Lastly it is suggested that it does not matter how much money some teachers are given, their performance will continue to be less than insignificant.
B. P.

Why was the name Singh not used?
Like so many others before me, I'd like to extend my sincerest condolences to the family and friends of the late Yohance Singh-Douglas who was killed recently by reckless elements of the police force.

Mr. Editor, I have been reading day-in day-out since the death of Mr. Singh-Douglas that his demise was as a result of racial profiling. This view continues to be propagated by a number of people especially those in the Afro-central PNC, many Afro- centrists and activists, racial propagandists like Roger Moore, Clem David and Lorri Alexander, and so on.

Fellow readers, I totally disagree with the disillusioned view of these racial machines and I'd like to use this opportunity to call on all sober-minded and rational-thinking Guyanese to publicly denounce the view of these individuals who use an innocent dead man's grave as an agent of their personal, racial and political aggrandisement.

As a matter of fact Mr. Editor, I want to pick a bone with these individuals by telling them and the rest of the nation that if indeed Mr. Singh-Douglas' death was as a result of racial profiling, why did the police kill the youth

who looked more like an Indian than anything else.

From photographs and in his coffin, he is Indian to me. Furthermore, why does the name Singh not used by these preachers of racism and genocide?

I hope this letter does not take away from the callousness with which the police acted and I do hope that they face the long end of the law as the nation seeks justice for Yohance Sigh-Douglas; another Indian who died as a result of the racial and political mischief created and administered by agents of the PNC and Tacuma Ogunseye.

In ending, I'd like to call on the police to be more conscious of their role in preserving law and order in society and as well, to be mindful of who the real criminals are - hint - its not the guys with guns in Buxton but those evildoers that preach race hate and violence against police.
David Singh

 

MARCH 13, 2003