Dear Editor,
Guyana’s welcome for King Charles III presents a troubling contradiction: elaborate courtesies for a visiting monarch while fellow Guyanese face confrontation when seeking to make their grievances heard. Our national dignity must be measured by how we treat our own people. The red carpet must never become more important than the rights of the Guyanese people deprived of walking on it. Mahatma Gandhi has exhorted us that, “But no one has a right to coerce others to act according to his own view of truth.”
Our ancestors endured enslavement, indentureship and colonial domination. Honouring their struggles requires a united demand for reparatory justice and an unwavering commitment to the rights they were denied.
President Irfaan Ali publicly called for an apology and a reparations framework before the visit. The Government must now explain what commitments it sought and secured. Royal ceremony cannot substitute for meaningful progress toward acknowledgment, accountability and repair.
That same commitment to justice must govern our conduct at home. Reports of Hana Mohamed’s clothing being pulled open and injuries sustained during police attempts to restrain and arrest her demand independent investigation. MP Sherod Duncan’s arrest and confrontations involving opposition parliamentarians and grieving relatives of MV Barima victims require transparent explanations. Bereaved families deserve compassion and answers. They have a right to be angry, and to protest.
Articles 146 and 147 of our Constitution protect expression, assembly and association, subject to constitutionally permitted restrictions. Security and public-order responsibilities must be exercised lawfully, fairly and with restraint. Pending proceedings against Azruddin Mohamed must likewise respect due process and the presumption of innocence. Defending these protections requires no endorsement of anyone’s politics.
Martin Luther King Jr. expressed our shared obligation in his Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963): “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
Guyanese must make that principle a national commitment. We weaken everyone’s freedom when we target or excuse another person’s humiliation because of race, party or political disagreement. The rights we tolerate being denied to an opponent today may be the rights we need ourselves tomorrow.
I call on President Ali and all parliamentary leaders to convene an urgent national dialogue, involving civil society, religious leaders, Indigenous representatives, trade unions, youth and affected families. Its immediate purposes should be to reduce tensions, protect peaceful protest, establish credible accountability for alleged abuses and build a common position on reparatory justice.
The Government must listen without treating criticism as disloyalty. Opposition leaders must insist on peaceful conduct. Police must protect citizens impartially. All sides must reject intimidation and commit to resolving disagreements through dialogue and lawful institutions.
National unity requires a willingness to listen, compromise and defend one another’s dignity. Love of country must extend to the neighbour whose views differ from our own.
We dishonour our ancestors when we demand justice for their suffering while suppressing each other’s rights.
Let the lasting achievement of this moment be a Guyana where every citizen is heard, every person’s dignity matters and justice and fairness unites us. Where is our national conscience?
Yours faithfully,
Hon. Albert Baldeo
Community Leader and Judicial Delegate (NY, USA)
Former Magistrate, Senior State Counsel and Police Legal Adviser (Guyana)
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