I went to a PPP/C rally to listen to the candidates and ask a few important questions of my own. One day after the current Minister of Health Dr. Beri Ramsaran was recorded talking about wanting to slap a woman for fun, calling her an idiot and a piece of sh@t... Real Guyana naturally had a few questions. This year the PPP/C are campaigning strongly on women's issues, we see ads saying they believe in us people and hear speeches about their commitment to the people and their security. Naturally I expected answers from people whose jobs as our representatives are centered around attending to our needs and answering our questions. I was eventually pushed away after trying multiple times to get a comment from the Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, someone fond of casting herself as a champion of women's rights. I struggled to get anything out of newly minted PPP/C youth campaigner and it seems former social activist Clinton Urling on the recording which has already gone viral. The adviser to the president told me flat out he wasn't interested in hearing what had happened and that was it...crickets chirping in the meadow. At the end of the very poorly attended rally as the crickets were drowned out by the vote PPP tune coming out of the massive speakers they brought, as I looked at all the official immediately get into their cars and depart the scene without staying to mingle or answer questions from the people paying their salaries and sending their kids to school...as I was rejected over and over for raising an issue central to their campaign efforts in 2015, disappointed doesn't begin to describe it. There are many parties contesting this year's general election, don't forget that. You don't HAVE to vote for anything you don't agree with and Real Guyana doesn't believe in abuse. All I wanted was to connect with a human being, a government minister that could admit what is plain for all to see, that their colleague was wrong. That would have added some weight to the claim of being committed to transparency and accountability. All I wanted was some honesty and some remorse for the shame such acts bring upon a party campaigning increasing desperation. The racism and fear-mongering at other rallies organized by this party, reported in the media, I can't say I was present for. This however, gave me an opportunity to make up my own mind. I can now see for myself what folks mean about people who see little value in chatter with the average person on the street save to garner their vote then let them get on with it. I know what happened tonight and given the level of corruption in present day Guyana under the Jagdeo/Ramotar administration it shouldn't have been surprising but I am in shock. It's time for us to call a spade a spade and it doesn't matter who is in power. Before you dismiss this post as pro-opposition first see it as anti-corruption for that is what it is. Shameful acts like these corrupt the moral fabric of our society and leave us progressively worse off as a people. See the link for the full recording below and think about this. Once we let one or two politicians get away with disgraceful behavior without holding them accountable, everyone starts getting in on the action. The women of Guyana deserve more than this and the men a better example. The youth deserve leaders conscious of their impact on the constructive or destructive social attitudes of the future, those who temper their passions in the present to lead from the front. No human being deserves to be spoken to or treated like an animal least of all a woman who has so selflessly devoted herself to advocating on behalf of the voiceless and oppressed in the Guyana of today. We must expect better and we must be prepared to demand it. Your vote is your weapon, use it wisely. Over to you... Welcome To Guyana. Listen to the Tape - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCoMF6YjzjM&width;=600&height;=

• published: 22 Apr 2015
• views: 9