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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 there 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 shes 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-figures in their lives. Our men are continually 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, children 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, hadnt anything to eat for the day. This is a common occurrence and even if these children are in the minority, it is a sizeable minority. I am familiar with very many university students who attend classes 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 guess that many of the people who serve us in those presumably menial jobs, many of the people who we scoff at on a daily basis, are

the holders of degrees and diplomas from the University of Guyana and other prestigious institutions. What is their infraction? Their infraction is being present in a SYSTEM which is unsympathetic to their plight; a system which favours affiliation over qualification. I am mindful of the thousands of teachers who are up into the wee hours of the mornings preparing lessons while the rest of the world retires to bed. Very many of those teachers prepare their lessons with the aid of candle light or light from kerosene lamps as they pause every so often to fight off the swarm of mosquitoes which would not let up. They do this just so our children would not have wasted days at school; just so our children might become meaningful citizens to society. What is their reward? The SYSTEM treats them to meager salaries and mere five percentage increases which the Union has to bleed to secure. I am mindful of the thousands of children who are told from a tender age that they should pursue a good education because it translates into good jobs, which in turn translate into good lives. They pursue this relentlessly, being appreciative of the enormous sacrifices of their parents. They stay up late into the nights, like the teachers, with the aid of candle light and kerosene lamps committedly chasing the good life. They oftentimes go hungry, without proper clothes, without stopping to notice or enjoy some of the other things life has to offer. What is their outcome? Upon graduation they realize that there are no jobs waiting for them and that the jobs which are available are not available to them because they have not made the right acquaintances along the way. I am mindful of the senior citizens who would have toiled their whole lives in the service of the public for wages which do not permit for retirement plans. The SYSTEM gives to them upon retirement GY$10,000 on a monthly basis. This is calculated to fill the gaps created by lives financed by minimum wages. This sum secures for pensioners nothing more than the agony it brings. What is the response of the SYSTEM? The SYSTEM stands proudly by the increase of GY$3,000 from the former monthly pension of GY$7,000. Outlined are just a few of the ills of the SYSTEM. I cannot be conscious of this reality and pursue a life which invites affluence and security for those I am personally responsible to and for. There is nothing glorious about dying and I dont have the least interest in being a martyr. However, there are some things which are worse than death, and a life of which one is precluded from realizing his full potential by mechanisms for which he boasts no responsibility is one such thing. Nothing will thwart my commitment to ensuring that my countrymen are afforded a fair opportunity to realize their full potential. Cuffy did not face this task with fear; neither did, Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jnr., Steve Biko, Thomas Sankara, Jewaharlal Nehru, Samora Machel, Robert Sobukwe, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, Jamal Abdel Nasser- to name a few. Why

should any Guyanese face this task with fear? In the words of Tupac Shakur, I am not saying Im 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

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