Stop Guyana’s journey to dictatorship

Dear Editor,
Our country is rapidly sinking in the quagmire of dictatorship under a leadership so intoxicated with the titillations of office that they would resort to the most egregious strategies to sustain their hold on power.
For this reason, I am convinced that the imperative of this letter demands urgent journalistic attention, since the press is a principal conveyor of messages that can influence the fortunes of a nation.

For too long, Guyanese have been besieged and buffeted by political insanities and depravities that defy human comprehension and rationality. When autocratic governments are allowed to flourish, abetted by the silence of the people, free speech is curtailed, dissension is prohibited, and the entire political architecture is redesigned to meet the approval and comfort of those relishing the obscenities of power.

The administrative directorates and other functionaries obsequiously loyal to the leaders grow to become behemoths looking down with disrespect and scorn on those below, whom they compress into tiny, helpless midgets who are forced to genuflect before the mighty colossal masters.

Political leaders with authoritarian attributes are elated when their subjects are illiterate and gullible. This makes it quite easy to manipulate their thinking to achieve absolute control and dominance. And their feigned amnesia conveniently allows them to forget the barbaric tragedies of the past.

Totalitarian regimes will not survive the will of the people. Think of Saddam Hussain, Idi Amin, Augusto Pinochet, Adolf Hitler, and the galaxy of tyrannical stars who idiotically believed in the fantasy of eternal domination.
Ingratiating utterances of sycophants and grovelling myrmidons in praise of despotic leaders are miscalculated and construed as popular approval of dictatorship. This grand illusion inflates their egos, emboldens them to expand their authority, and impose new and stifling restraints on freedom. While it is the power of tyranny that enslaves men, it is the strength of democracy that liberates them. A diverse people who fail to hold hands in unison willingly surrender their dignity to become captives. Servitude is the child of disunity, and must be opposed and confronted in joint consolidated defiance.

Political salvation will come only when all Guyanese discard the veil that impairs their vision to recognise that the intention of the Coalition is to misuse and abuse the sanctity of the democratic process prescribed for vote tabulation.
The world has been treated to the hilarious show of deceit and shamelessness clumsily orchestrated by Congress Place, GECOM, Chief Villain Mingo, and a coterie of nefarious confederates. Instead of comedy, the spectators were flabbergasted at the desperate and criminal acts of fraud to legitimise and perpetuate the APNU/AFC’s stubborn trespassing in the seat of power.

Have they no compunction or a twinge of conscience when they look in the mirror and cannot recognise what they have become? Have they lost the urge to regain their bartered souls, which would restore a semblance of their humanity? The curse of a nation is not always its poverty, but those in government that facilitate the creation of conditions conducive to widespread destitution and the attendant suffering. To slay the dragon of dictatorship is not only a noble patriotic deed, but an act that would earn divine blessings. Freedom has been ordained by God, and to liberate people from totalitarian strangulation is the most eloquent expression of righteousness.

We have savoured the taste of dictatorship before, and it was not pleasant. The bitterness and revulsion have not been forgotten. Guyana’s future prosperity can only thrive with unimpeded infusion of democracy. A nation fettered by blind partisan allegiance has nowhere to go, except in an unfathomable abyss with no exit. Will we be comfortable with that?
I therefore appeal to GECOM and Staff to exorcise the demon of fraud and cleanse the Coalition’s predilection for grotesque mathematical absurdities.

Get on with the work, and be guided by honesty, integrity and respect for the rule of law. The infallibility of the ballot count must withstand the most rigorous scrutiny.

Yours sincerely,
Chandra Persaud