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FM
Former Member

The combined Opposition and their quality of leadership

THE current imbroglio with the joint opposition’s incomprehensible and indefensible position of not supporting the legislation to combat money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), and the threatened sanctions, primarily the blacklisting of Guyana on the global landscape, is indeed food for thought. Add to this all the destructive and anti-developmental actions and the divisive rhetoric of Guyana’s combined opposition in and out of Parliament, and what we have is a lack of leadership skills and a wanton dereliction of the responsibilities reposed in them by their supporters, whom they have been consistently failing in a multiplicity of ways, especially in the November 2011 post-elections period.

The combined opposition would be entirely to blame for the consequential degradation in the socio-economic constructs in Guyana, and the lives and lifestyles of the average Guyanese man, woman and child that would be the direct result of a FATF blacklisting, which is a looming spectre over this nation that would blanket every citizen and endeavour emanating out of Guyana with catastrophic consequences.
Yet, the joint Opposition is adamant and intractable in its determination not to support legislation that would save this nation from dire socio-economic consequences of a FATF blacklisting. This unrelenting stance by the combined opposition is reprehensible, unjustifiable and unforgivable, because it is the ordinary citizen, among them their own supporters, who would suffer the most from the repercussions of consequential international sanctions.
Real leadership is about putting the general good above personal considerations, egos, ambition, and self-empowerment and enrichment, all traits that the leadership of the combined Opposition have been displaying ad nauseum, even to the extent of consistently breaking the laws of the land in pursuit of their own nefarious agendas.
The equations and definitions constraining human and humane conduct have largely become statistics by a society saturated with the sensual and the sensational.
Value systems today relate to the dynamics of materialistic configurations instead of the applicability of good conduct, consideration for others, respect for authority and even parents. But leaders are supposed to exemplify, by their own conduct, the best qualities that should be inherent in a good human being and citizen of the state in which they govern, or aspire to govern.
The resilience of the human spirit may endure, as it has for centuries of natural and man-made catastrophies, and evolved over time to predominate over individual and societal anomalies. But to what extent has the human collective transmigrated into the quintessential replica of that divine life force most of us pray to for charting the course of our lives? How many of us see ourselves as our brother’s – and sister’s keepers? And how many of us can see a suffering child and feel constrained to intercede on its behalf, even if that intercession creates problems for us in our personal lives? The quality of mercy is largely constrained within the parameters of our individual comfort zones, and this also applies to leaders of nations.
But what is the quality of leadership provided by the joint opposition? Former President of Guyana, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, was the lone David without even the support of the people for whom he was battling against the monolithic European Union, and won concessionary terms in the EPA for the retention of the sovereignty of CARICOM states.
During the height of the Linden fracas, and other such opposition-led and orchestrated mayhem in Guyana during his tenure as President, His Excellency President Donald Ramotar maintained his composure at all times, and in the face of great hostility of opposition media and the entire opposition cabal, and intense provocation by those who wanted to precipitate a state of anarchy in the land.
It is now a matter of history that both former President Jagdeo and incumbent President Ramotar faced and prevailed over challenges that could have cost this nation its sovereignty and its progress, yet both stood tall as leaders who always put the good of the Guyanese people above any other consideration during some of this nation’s most trying times, as have every PPP leader throughout the course of our history.
To be a real leader and a good human being, one has to adopt and maintain principled positions, even when the world turns against you for refusing to compromise integrity for the convenience of popularity.
It is a rare human being and leader, and one whose self-respect and moral code are unshakeable, who can withstand the buffeting of a societal, national, regional, and global tsunami and emerge with moral pristinity.
Too many persons are like chaff blowing hither and thither in the wind of public opinion, without consideration for truth and the greater good. But the Lord adjured us to build our houses upon the rock of truth, so that it can withstand the elements and endure – and all our religions teach us that good triumphs over evil, light over darkness.
It is extremely difficult to refuse our peers in the pursuit of wrongdoing, especially when ostracism from their society would ensue as a consequence, unless one has a strong and in-built moral code that transposes one above the norm to rise unsullied by the machinations of those who take joy in marginalising the existence of others,or policy makers who gain satisfaction in strategising the dislocation of the socio-economic contours of vulnerable societies.
The sad reality that has hallmarked the evolutionary processes of societies is that moral integrity has majorly been relegated to a dimension of alienation within the mainstream norm, and the acquisition of power and wealth has taken precedence over the adjurations of all our holy text; but most of our parliamentary members proclaim themselves to be godly persons, even sometimes quoting religious texts.
The hypocrisy of many elders who attend mosques, mandirs, temples, churches, and other places of worship, whose lifestyles cannot bear scrutiny, have created agnostics and cynics out of the younger generation, so authority figures,and consequentially the Supreme Being they purport to worship, have become suspect and unworthy of respect.
This phenomenon has fractured societies, because the various religions of the world have historically and traditionally been the grounding force melding families and societies into a cohesive unit, mainly harmonising within the philosophies of their doctrines to create communities and countries with soul.
The churches may today be full, but the mechanical, materialistic applications have, except for exceptional instances, created poverty of the soul of humankind.
So, what category of leadership is the opposition collective providing to the Guyanese people? They are providing this nation with the quality of leadership that leads to social decay, moral strangulation – especially in the young; and socio-economic devastation of the nation. This is the legacy they left this nation pre-1992; and, re-configured several times over in various avatars, they continue to subvert and corrode every hope of this nation for the sustained attainment of peace, progress and prosperity.

 

source: Guyanachronicle

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