Nagamootoo in Berbice: No country for young men
Once again, for the umpteenth time, I spent days in hospital after spilling hot coffee on my legs while having breakfast because I saw an unbelievable item in the newspaper. It has happened so often in my life as an activist living in Guyana that if I continue my Guyanese existence, my legs will dissolve in hot coffee, because there will be more unbelievable news once the PPP and APNU+AFC are in power in this land.
So what caused the coffee to burn me down to the bone? Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo gave the feature address at the graduation of the J. C. Chandisingh Secondary School in Berbice, and advised the school to invest in the youths in Guyana. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. I thought I was sleep-walking. If any government presides over a country whose population consists of a majority of young people it is Guyana’s. If there is any country that because of that percentage it should invest in youths it is Guyana. If there is any country that does not invest in youths, it is Guyana.
None of the youths at the school was brave enough to get up and say; “Honourable Prime Minister, are you sure you are not the man wearing the emperor’s new clothes?” Just days after the Prime Minister was sworn in, the government of which he is second in charge (really?) did the unthinkable for which the youths of this country should continue to reject – the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport was abolished and youth affairs became a department in the Ministry of Education.
All the harsh words in the dictionary are appropriate to describe such a policy failure. We have more ministers per capita than most countries, yet one of the nations in the world, with one of the youngest populations, chose to abolish the ministry that handles youth affairs. Well all governments make mistakes. When it realized that the society would have wanted the retention of such a ministry, the most commonsensical and decent thing to do was to tell the Guyanese people it was a mistake, and resuscitate the ministry.
I am convinced deeply in my mind that every policy-maker in the APNU+AFC regime possesses a Jagdeoite mentality that sees an apology as a fatal flaw. None of them will acknowledge a wrong direction. Why? Because they are saturated with the ancient, debased, depraved political culture that has dominated the psychology of Guyanese political leadership since the colonial era. This political culture carries it with the fear of losing power once you apologize.
I believe that there will be more mistakes made by President Granger, as with the gross lapse he made with his reaction to the Chief Justice’s ruling on the GECOM issue. It was an imbroglio that he should apologize for, but we will not see it now or before 2020. All Basil Williams, the AG, had to do when Judge Holder displayed genuine anger was to say, “Your Honour, my apology, I didn’t mean it the way you thought.” And that would have been the complete end of the matter right there and then.
It is not only the abolition of the Youth Ministry that is unacceptable, but also the government’s crusade against the elevation of youths in this country, in other words the APNU+AFC leadership does not invest in youths, and the record is not only unpleasant, but horrible.
The PNC replaced an aging Oscar Clarke as General Secretary with another PNC stalwart that is aging too. The PNC has a youth arm with educated, experienced and talented young people. The commonsensical and modern thing to do was to expose one of the young PNC cadres to that leadership role.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ choice of diplomats to serve abroad tells Guyanese that this is no country for young men. Not one front line envoy is in his/her forties. Only one of our ambassadors and high commissioners is in his fifties. All are over sixty. Two are in their late seventies and one in his late eighties.
Many of the important positions in the public service and the public have been filled with locals or expatriates who are way into their fifties. The newly appointed chancellor of UG, Professor Nigel Harris, is 73. The newly appointed UG Vice Chancellor is 66. The man appointed last year as deputy editor-in-chief of the Chronicle is in his early seventies.
This is not a comment on these men and the diplomats. My point is that the government just seems to overlook younger Guyanese. Over to you Moses!
