Perhaps Rev. Gilbert should practice what he preaches

Guyana Chronicle – April 7, 2008

Dear Editor,

As I read Reverend Kwame Gilbert’s essay on societal structure (April 6, Guyana Chronicle) and the means by which he feels society is constructed and then reconstructed, I could not help but note the irony that the female contribution to society was completely neglected until the very end — as if nothing more than an afterthought.

Gilbert asserts in his essay that although Guyanese society was constructed one way by men of the past, it can be better reconstructed by men today. He refers to the contributions of men to society over and over again throughout his essay and only brings women in as he ends his writing.

It appeared as if he only realised – perhaps after proofreading his article – that he should have included women as reconstruction workers in a better Guyana (he never once acknowledged their part in the original construct).

This must not happen

Guyana Chronicle – April 7, 2008

Dear Editor,

Am I the only one that read this article? Members of a Muslim organization met with ERC commissioner Bishop Juan Edghill and they are proposing polygamy be introduced in the Muslim community in Guyana? Where do these people think they live? In Saudi Arabia or the Middle East, where this practise is quite common?

I have a question. If polygamy is indeed approved as they wish, are Muslim women free to take as many husbands as they want? Where are the women’s organizations? Why aren’t they outraged about this?

I also read they want to sanction marriages of girls who are under the age of consent. Isn’t this pedophilia? What are the GHRA and the children’s welfare protection agency stand on this issue?

It is like the caste system and bride burnings in India or the sexual abuse of young boys in the Catholic Church. These things are morally and ethically wrong and must be condemned most vigorously.

NOHAR SINGH