…of the Broomes syndrome
It’s clear that President Granger – avuncular as he pretends to be – is willing to tolerate the crassest of behaviours from his ministers. But to your Eyewitness, if Guyana can even aspire to the HOPE of a civilised future, there’s got to be a line drawn somewhere in the sand, which Government ministers and officers cannot cross. Especially when the behaviour goes beyond crass.
And “I is” Broomes’ vulgar display at the Providence New Thriving crosses whatever “Code of Conduct” Trotman might’ve been talking about back in the day. Remember that? It was drafted, then handed over with great ceremony to PM Nagamootoo, then passed on to a special committee, and then passed on to the parliamentary bureaucracy etc etc. It warned, “Public office holders have a duty to…act with PROPRIETY on all occasions.” That duty was situated within the wider principle of “honour”!
So against the deafening silence in official censure of Broomes, maybe there’s good reason why the Code of Conduct was allowed to die stillborn. But aren’t there some common principles of decency that might guide Granger?? How about the claim that he’s “God fearing” and an upstanding member of the church? Isn’t one of the Ten Commandments, “Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbour”?
And isn’t this the lowest of the low behaviour that Broomes has displayed AFTER her gutter performance at Providence? This is a woman who not only LIED on two lowly guards who were only performing their duties – but gave FALSE TESTIMONY against them!! In biblical hermeneutics, there’s a difference between “lying” – which may sometimes be permitted – and “FALSE TESTIMONY”, which is absolutely forbidden.
In the latter instance, of which Broomes’s testimony is the paradigmatic example, the person is actually giving evidence against another person; which may, at a minimum, harm him; or, at worse, even doom him! If it weren’t for the camera footage, there’s no question the incarceration of those two guards could’ve stretched from 16 hours to sixteen years!! And this is a woman who was willing to do this to folks whose taxes paid for the food she just couldn’t wait to wolf down in the Chinese restaurant!!
Could Broomes sink any lower? Yes! Asked in the corridors of Parliament about the incident, Broomes brazenly asserted, “I don’t know what you’re talking about”!! Surely, even the MSG in the food couldn’t have wiped out the memory of her FALSE TESTIMONY. But maybe because she is from the bush, Broomes doesn’t know better.
But what about President Granger? Wasn’t it Jesus Himself who warned: “For what shall it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul?”
…of the military mind
The Broomes’ fracas is acting like a Rorschach Test for officialdom – not just Granger. Just consider the reaction of the Acting Crime Chief to the outrage – he blamed the guards, who were the victims!! “…if you see a certain vehicle within a certain standard and class right there and then it speaks out to somebody, even if you want to rate the person as for whatever it is: whether the person is drug lord, whether the person is a minister, whether the person is a businessman, whether the person is a gold miner or whatever it is; from the time you see a vehicle of certain standard, it is supposed to arouse your attention and alertness, rather than from a normal vehicle.”
And what after the attention’s gained, like with Broomes? “…from the time she would have identified herself as a minister, he, as a security guard, his tone ought to have changed and he should have said, “Excuse me. Sorry, I did not know you were a minister”!!
Now you know the military mind!!
…for Guyana
Once we recognise our “betters” – even a drug lord – we mere citizens better spring to attention and salute!
And imagine, we now have a military type in every Government department!!
