We need leaders of impeccable integrity

Dear Editor,

I was a young lad in 1966 when we raised the Golden Arrowhead for the first time. I have lived continuously in Guyana since that time and so I have witnessed first-hand these 50 odd years of an independent Guyana.
Other than slight glimmers of hope, firstly with President Hoyte in 85-92, then President Jagan in 92-96, the two principal political parties have not served us well. They are very similar in many respects, ‘two peas in a pod,’ or more aptly, ‘wings from the same bird of prey.’

However, I recognize that there are morally upright individuals in those political parties, and in Guyana generally. I appeal to the politicians, who still have a moral compass, to put Guyana first, and to work within their political party structures to find a solution to our current impasse, for the good of Guyana.

Despite an abundance of both human and natural resources, most of our people have remained poor. As we can already see, this oil is a curse. Are we going to fight and kill each other for this ‘black gold’?
The call for shared governance is good, but it’s no panacea. We need leaders of impeccable integrity who can lead by example. Where are they? We need respect for our constitutional offices and our laws. We all recognize that the Constitution and many of our laws need to be reformed. Again, we need wise leadership to initiate those processes and see them through.

This GECOM is a bloody disgrace. Its conduct has not inspired confidence in its claims to be impartial.
We need to respect the vote, even as more and more of us now understand that ‘one person, one vote’ is a deficient way to run a country, with two major ethnic groups that vote along ethnic lines.

Howard Bulkan