Hopefully The Good Ship Guyana might finally sail bravely on

Dear Editor,

In a letter to Stabroek News a few weeks ago, I likened the elections tempest to a rudderless ship sailing blithely into a perfect storm. I stated then that the captain might have jumped ship. I was wrong. The captain was all the while in his cabin issuing orders, and very much in charge.

The boat has finally limped into port, but the captain and crew are refusing to give up the ship. Most of the passengers, meanwhile, have disembarked bruised and battered, swearing they must never have to undergo such a trip again.

The new shipping company has promised to build a brand new ship, with great new features. But shareholders say they have heard that promise time after time, only to get the same old tub with a new coat of paint. The company’s shareholders say that for fifty years they allowed successive captains and their crews a free hand, only to be left with a leaking boat and a bankrupt company. Shareholders say that to prevent this from ever happening again, they intend to have a say in charting the course in future and in overseeing the daily operations of the company.

The new shipping company say that they eventually intend to offer the old crew a chance to join the new ship at the helm after they have had time enough to recover from the last disastrous sailing. Shareholders say they have also heard that too many times in the past, and intend to participate in that decision in future.

Hopefully, with oil thus poured on troubled political waters, The Good Ship Guyana might finally sail bravely on, this time with God as its compass.

Yours faithfully,

Clairmont Lye