The Engaged Citizenry

There comes a point in the history of every country that its citizens must take upon themselves the burden of forming a decent and upstanding nation. Ideally, this happens during the early years of development and is not lost in the growth process. However, sometimes-good intentions do get lost in the shuffle of bureaucracy and in the end the citizens are the ones who suffer the most, as they are today.

For our nation, our declaration of independence from Britain was also a declaration of well-intentioned citizenry. There were aspirations of economic, social and political expansion. With a gleam of hope in our eye, we dreamed of the many possibilities that awaited a young and aspiring country.

Somehow, in the course of time, our hope was replaced with cynicism and regret. Our sense of decency suffers constant assailment to the point of fatigue. This last few weeks with the CXC debacle, even our children were made to suffer at the hands of those who would rob them of a substantial education and position them in a place of mockery in the academic world.

Though we are still just an adolescent country, it is quite clear that future history is calling upon our generation to carry the burden of defining the standards by which our country shall thrive. Our insatiable thirst for responsive leaders has increasingly become more desperate with each year since our independence and is now culminated in a people who are disengaged, disenchanted and disheartened about their fair Guyana.

“But not in vain we’ll strive to build, a new Guyana great and free; A land of glory and of hope, A land of love and Unity.” This children’s hymn demonstrates the hope of our hearts and this hope should no longer be deferred. We can no longer relinquish the sole responsibility for the integrity and decency of Guyana to the government. It is time for each of us to play a vital role in the next stage of development lest we lose the best of the human spirit to apathy and misanthropism.

We are a free people of a democratic nation. We alone decide the political fate of our leaders and we can blame no one but ourselves for the state of Guyana. Yet each election year we fall into the same trap contrived by so-call leaders who would divide our country in their quest for political power. They recklessly cry racial partiality and our typical knee-jerk response is just as reckless. We are better than this. We are more decent and have more wisdom than to play into their dangerous games of vilifying one race over another.

How sad indeed that what started as a friendship and then a disagreement between Jagan and Burnham decades ago now divides our nation by race. These are two men who initially worked together and accomplished so much as a team. Is it possible to redeem the values that aided the establishment of our independence to now create a morally astute society poised for civic maturation? Not only is it possible, it is desirable.

In fact, we should expect the unity of our countrymen and women and stand strong as one people against the wiles of scheming politicians. We should insist on decent politicians who understand that their one purpose in office is to serve the people and gladly accept that honour and responsibility. Our primary role as engaged citizens is to require this type of responsive government, which is in sharp contrast to the reactionary government now in place that only acts when desperation requires action.

“O children of Guyana, rise, Rise up and sing with happy tears: And bless the land that gave you birth, And vow to serve her through the years.” The Hymn for Guyana’s Children calls each of us to civic participation. We are the vessels of potential in our country and our children will take this burden seriously to the degree we take it seriously. Engaged citizenry is not a trait easily caught, instead it is a learned behaviour. We teach our children by our own participation or the lack thereof.

Indeed, the government was created for the people of Guyana – not the people for the government. Upon our own shoulders lay the responsibility of decency and the opportunity for greatness. There are some who might question their obligation as citizens since Guyana has offered them no great sense of pride. That is only because Guyana itself has been offered very little for which to be proud. A strong and united people cannot help but produce a strong country, which in turns produces even more strong citizens. This cyclic relationship begins in your hands and in mine. Together, our hands can build a thriving country.

If the “Third Force” only consists of disenfranchised politicians, then it is not the answer for Guyana’s woes. Yet if it consists of participation by all of us working together, the politicians, mothers, fathers, business men and women, farmers, teachers, students, the old, the young – then this would be all Guyanese working together for the good of the country and the outcome will be spectacular.

Consider these words by Anthony Trollope concerning Guyana:

When I settle out of England, and take to the colonies for good and all, British Guiana shall be the land of my adoption. If I call it Demerara perhaps I shall be better understood. At home there are prejudices against it I know. They say it is a low, swampy, muddy strip of alluvial soil, infested with rattlesnakes, gall nippers, and mosquitoes as big as turkey-cocks; that yellow fever rages there perennially; that the heat is unendurable; that society there is as stagnant as its waters; that men always die as soon as they reach it; and when they live are such wretched creatures that life is a misfortune… There was never a land so ill spoken of - and never one that deserved it so little. All the above calumnies I contradict; and as I lived there for a fortnight – would it could have been a month! – I expect to be believed.

…For Demerara is the Elysium of the tropics – The West Indian happy valley of Rasselas – the one true and actual Utopia of the Caribbean Seas – The Transatlantic Eden.

The men in Demerara are never angry, and the women are never cross. Life flows along on a perpetual stream of love, smiles, champagne, and small talk. Everybody has enough of everything. The only persons who do not thrive are the doctors…

Though these words were published in 1860, Trollope touched on so many of the reasons why we love our country and want to see it reach its potential on the world stage. True, Guyana is often underestimated and the subject of negative conversation, but we know the capabilities of our land and our people. The only way to see this prospectus realized is by finally shedding our old habits of expecting the government alone to make something out of Guyana and doing something about it ourselves.

Our hope does not lie in the hands of the president or parliament. We are Guyana and through unity we can do what no government to date has been able to accomplish – social, economic and political stability.

“Great is the task that Thou hast given: Thy will to show, Thy truth to find: To teach ourselves that we are one, in Thy great Universal Mind.”