…and Guyana
You remember the ancient Greek story of Sisyphus; don’t you, dear reader? A real “wise guy”, Sisyphus thought he could pull a fast one on the Gods. But he was inevitably exposed, and sentenced to rolling a huge boulder to the top of a hill…only to have it roll downhill and he having to repeat the task. Again and again for all eternity. Those of us who lived in Guyana under the PNC during its first incarnation, and now again, know the feeling; don’t we?
You would think we’d learn from that first experience, when some of our goodly citizens gave the PNC a free pass to rig elections to keep itself in power for 28 looooong years. But some people are “hard ears”, and fell in 2015 for the same ruse the PNC had pulled in 1964 to slip into office. Then, the hot-button issue was made out to be the PPP and “the spectre of communism”, so the PNC sweet-talked the anti-communist UF into a coalition…and the rest, as they say, is history — a most sordid history of betrayal and abuse that plunged all the citizens, including PNC supporters, into Sisyphean lives of futility for the aforementioned 28 looong years.
Fast forward into 2015 – after the PNC had to roll the rock uphill for 23 years with its own dirty hands — when the issue is now ethnic security. The PNC has repeated the identical coalition ploy with the AFC to keep out the “racial” PPP. The “multi-racial” AFC insisted it could represent Indian-Guyanese on account of its 2011 performance at the polls!! But in just 3 years, Guyanese have seen the PNC just can’t change its spots – excepting, evidently, the much-abused AFC. In the first go-around, the leader of the UF refused to be a rubber stamp, and quit the coalition. But in the present, it’s clear that Nagamootoo and Ramjattan of the AFC have actually embraced their abusers. Stockholm Syndrome?
But the results of the LGE show that the voters – including erstwhile supporters of the PNC – aren’t prepared to haul that rock up the hill for another two years, much less another term.
By giving the PPP/C 61 per cent of their votes, versus 34 per cent to the PNC and 4 per cent to the AFC, they’ve made it clear that they won’t be fooled a second time. Today, in his Budget Speech, PNC’s Winston Jordan will be announcing all sorts of goodies to convince the PNC supporters that the PNC’s spots have faded! Ain’t gonna work.
The LGE also convinced some MPs from the PNC benches that they’d better hedge their bets. Come December, they’ll be giving Guyanese a Christmas present via the no-confidence motion.
General Elections in three months!!
…and rum in Baramita
The folks up in Baramita in the North-West District are fed up with the rum-binging in their community, as it leads to domestic violence, suicide, and all sorts of dysfunctional behaviours. So their female Toshao has proposed a ban on alcohol in their community, complaining that after countless visits by Government officials to deal with the problem, there’s been absolutely no change.
The Government have signalled they’ll support the ban.
The residents of Baramita are mostly Carib Indigenous Peoples. It’s been shown that the idea that Indigenous Peoples are more susceptible to liquour is a myth. Having, for centuries, access to their own alcoholic drink – piwari – they never exhibited the present pathological behaviour during that time. That started after rum was foisted on them, and their relative deprivation and marginalisation were exposed.
The solution is to develop Baramita economically – and educate its people about binge drinking.
…and pie in the sky
With typical vacuity, Nagamootoo carried on about an “Atlantic Air Bridge” reversing the old “Atlantic Crossing” with the signing of an air agreement with Ghana.
Does he have a clue about the economics of air travel?
