Public Servants and misguided Guyanese need to stop following corrupt political orders

I find it astounding and painful how some average Guyanese, and even some of the supposedly most intelligent and qualified, put themselves in trouble because of their love for a political party and their faith in certain ambitious and egoistic political leaders.

It is most disturbing to observe how certain politicians inconvenience workers, employees, and others by placing them in situations that may become dangerous to life, or cause injury, or even imprisonment with a criminal record.

With this said, I would like to address the following: At present, we have seen how certain politicians under the ‘Evil Eyes’ directive, remain hidden with other senior clandestine operatives to shield themselves, but will use lower-level political instruments to disaffect a nation and mislead poor and good citizens. This is apparent in the unfolding of events that have taken our nation by storm, and which almost created civil war.

With reference to the aforementioned, the most recent is the protest by the nurses. Please allow me to pen my thoughts on these nurses. Nurses, like teachers and other public servants, are vital service-providers for the citizens of this country, and their salaries are paid by those citizens. They are known to be aides in emergency and life-saving circumstances, both locally and globally.

Citizens of this country, who pay them, deserve service, and under no circumstances should employees of the taxpayers, or servants referred to as public servants, attempt to blackmail citizens by threatening to place their lives at risk. Being a nurse is a very noble profession, with enormous dignity and respectability. If there is a grievance or a request, they cannot start from what should be the last measure, but must obey Public Service protocols and rules.
I am in agreement with President Irfaan Ali. The Government of Guyana took over a broken economy, with no reserves in the Treasury, and set up a budget to reduce the cost of living, which in my view is more than just collecting coloured printed paper called money.

Dropping the cost of living — as they are doing by removing VAT on power, water, raw food ingredients and educational items; and by providing free electricity and water to pensioners, whether or not they have worked; along with so many other initiatives introduced through the budget — is intended to put more money in the pockets of the citizens.

Unfortunately, the people of Guyana like to see a lot of printed coloured paper in their pockets, which come from increases which in fact send up the cost of living; because the cost of every item goes up with an increase in coloured printing paper called money.
There certainly is political interference with nurses, as there are in so many other parts of our economy. The intention is to try to break the Government, but they are not realising that they are only making the Government stronger and better. The President has said that while he is trying to reduce the cost of living in time, the relevant increases will be provided, which will be more useful with VAT.

Some nurses are threatening the lives of a certain group of people because of their culture and race. This is not good. This kind of behaviour and manipulation by the political director of the ‘Evil Eyes’ is only causing more ethnic tension and discord within the nation.

This ‘Evil Eyes’ director is only putting himself in a position as a marked political operative who fosters animosity among the citizens of this country. With this in mind, I ask: “Does he really believe he can win an election in the future this way?”
Nurses protesting, staying away from their jobs, have already been compensated for the remainder of the month; and if this is the case, it is my hope that the Ministry of Finance would extract the days or the period they did not work. “No work, no pay.”

My advice to the Government at this time is that while we are appealing to the good nature of the nurses, the servants of the people, the caregivers of the citizens of this country, perhaps the new Government should think of reading a page from the book of the late President Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham. I remember that, when there were no teachers available, he brought teachers from Sri Lanka to support the education system. I applauded him for that then, and it is something that I still applaud him for now.
Perhaps this Government should consider taking trained nurses from Haiti, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan under a serious contract for ten years. After that, make them eligible for citizenship in a modern, dynamic, growing and more prosperous economy I envision Guyana to be by that time.

At this juncture, I would conclude by advising citizens to use their gray matter, or brains, and not allow themselves to become the puppets of dark political powers that are bent on exploiting healthy, easy, and trusting people so as to gratify their evil agendas. These politicians do evil and put others to shame, while branding others, like our nurses, as unfit for promotion and a scholarship for self-development.

Sincerely,
Hajji Dr. Roshan Khan, Snr