An overhead photo of Kitty, Georgetown (Latchman Singh/Office of the President photo)
Dear Editor,
I watched intently as the BBC Journalist Stephen Sackur interviewed Guyana’s President Dr Irfaan Ali. It was an interesting interview, and it saw the arrogance of a former colonial master trying desperately to lecture his former colony on climate change, as well as how to utilise or to stop the use of our sovereign resources. It was a discourse tailored to suit a colonial master talking down to his servile colonist.
Well things really got to a head, and our President had to stop Sackur in his tracks. The BBC Journalist had to be enlightened in several of the areas raised.
In the first place, we are not citizens governed by Britain, we are an independent developing state that stands as equals with Britain. Secondly, we are well aware of the Developing World’s creation of Global Warming and the evils of Climate Change. In this regard, we would not be the sewer line for the Industrialized World, of which Stephen Sackur is part. We would not be burdened and bullied into cleaning up their mess either; it comes with a cost! President Ali summarily silenced him on all fronts.
Which brings me to the point where I would say that on a scale of 1-10, President Ali came out with a resounding nine rating. I do not know if Sackur wanted to test the President’s ability to deliver when faced with an international interviewer, whichever his test, President Ali came out a winner.
In just over three short years, our country has shown growth that is phenomenal even to world ratings, so Sackur’s condescending behaviour would not be tolerated. For a developed country, which had the luxury of 400 years of free labour plus the loot of our natural resources to make the jewel of Great Britannia, Sackur is well out of place to lecture us on such matters.
Well, the President would have none of it; enough is enough. “Let me stop you right there!” Britain is no moral compass for us in the developing world. We are no longer servile slaves of the British, we now speak as equals. To quote the lyrics from our Caribbean Singer Buju Banton, our President “Walk like a champion, talk like a champion”, as he went on to put Stephen Sackur in his place.
The President caused him to tone down his condescending rhetoric, and the rest of his interview was a rehash of what the Opposition Leader told him. He was taken to selective places of the Opposition Leader’s choosing, such as none-regularised squatter camps in Sophia, where there was no potable water supply.
Now, if the Opposition Leader had any moral decency in him, he would have told Mr. Sackur that this former slum was laid bare by his own party when Hoyte sent the police with dogs to race the (mainly Black occupants) from the land. It took Mrs. Janet Jagen to regularise that area into what it is today, a thriving suburban city place.
Further, Norton should have told the interviewer of the developmental works being conducted in Albouystown, another suburban area built by Mrs Jagan and the PPP. Persons from that area were granted $250,000 plus cement and steel to upgrade those range houses. The recent transformation of the area is to the tune of $1.5B worth of community enhancement work.
Sackur was flat-footed before the President. I think in the future he would be better advised to do some serious background research before he embarrasses himself on an international stage.
Respectfully,Neil Adams
