why politics

WHY POLITICS? The people who have attempted to dissuade my involvement in politics are innumerable. There is a common sentiment in their chants and a sincerity that cannot be undermined. They are concerned that my non-conventional views might accelerate my demise. Given our political culture, their concern is reasonable. They spare no opportunity to remind me that I have a daughter who would be prejudiced by any misfortune which befalls me. I am constantly encouraged to content myself with being a lawyer. They are persuaded to believe that my intellect would procure for me a life of affluence and stability once I steer clear of politics. Anyone who knows me knows that my daughter and I are inseparable and that my commitment to her has no parallel. I would love nothing more than to grow an old man watching my daughter evolve from a child into an adolescent and all the way to womanhood. I want to be ther e when she welcomes the newness of her menstrual cycle, when she graduates from the various academic institutions, when her emotions are rendered uneasy by her attraction to the opposite sex, when she’s recovering from her first broken heart, when she gets married, when she welcomes her first child…. However, I cannot help but be mindful of the thousands of Guyanese children who do not have fathers or father -f igures in their lives. Our men are continuall y surrendering to the appeal of carnal pleasures and the escape such pleasures provide - an escape from the overwhelming psychological trauma triggered by our myriad social challenges. But when children result from that ‘escape’ and fathers are confronted by the harsh reality of being providers in an incompatible economy they leave their homes and children behind. Broken homes generally mean broken children, chi ldr en who grow into adults only to persist in the cycle of familial degradation. By no stretch of imagination am I defending men who shy away from their responsibilities, granted that there are those who are plain lazy and do not even make the effort. I am simply being sensitive to some of the factors which influence this unfortunate state of affairs. I have been stopped in the streets by many a child whose representation was that s/he had no bus fare to get home, hadn’t anything to eat for the day…. This is a common occurrence and even if these children are in the minority, it is a sizeable min or ity. I am famili ar wit h ver y man y uni ver sit y stu den ts who att end cla sses hungry regularly, many employed people who are forced to borrow a bus fare and lunch money; I have been among their lot and am still not far removed. I personally know women whose bid in conventional employment has failed and their recourse is prostitution. …Their justification? “I have children to feed.” Very many educated men and women are vendors at our markets and on our city streets, many of them are garbage collectors, bus and taxi drivers, employees at fast food restaurants, etc. We would never gu ess that many of the peop le who serve us in those presumably menial jobs, many of the people who we scoff at on a daily basis, are

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7/27/2019 Why Politics

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should any Guyanese face this task with fear? In the words of Tupac Shakur, “I am

not saying I’m gonna change the world but I guarantee that I will spark the brain

that will change the world.”

If my daughter loses a father in the process then that is a single loss, albeit one that

would no doubt be painful beyond my immediate comprehension. However,measured against the potential gain of my political endeavours, it is a risk worth

taking. How better our country would be when education means something, when

teachers are justly rewarded, when public servants have a life beyond struggling to

pay Courts and Singers, when old age pension is not an insult, when government is

an instrument of the people and not the people an instrument of government, when

we can stand anywhere in the world and say with unmistakable pride that ‘I am a

Guyanese’?

Ronald J. Daniels

2nd June, 2012,

7:30 pm

Why i entered politics

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