Everyone doing their own thing
Kaieteur News – A quick survey of life in Guyana conveys how expensive things are for the tax-paying citizens. As official mistakes pileup, the dollars spiral, and the count comes when it comes to debt service time.
Omai records a huge gold discovery, but the nation is offshore in terms of its benefits. The culprit is secrecy on the signed contract which is the strange transparency that intensifies here. Just like that Payara report.
From town to Timehri, this public back and forth between Hon. Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill, and the Chinese Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC) over that airport expansion project to nowhere. Lots of talking, lots of money involved, and a lot of time gone together representing a classic of people doing their own thing without care.
The Chinese were copied by the acting Town Clerk, who had his own ideas as to who to answer, who apparently disregarded the Mayor and City Councilors. Clearly, this is a city where everyone marches to their own drum. They have a lot of company, and it’s deaf and damaging to the ear.
A senior police officer then had a vehicle full of allegedly smuggled liquor. His story was that he was the point person for family and friends; and later, that the taxes were going to be paid. This was on an intercept at Linden, which is a bit far from Lethem. This policeman is responsible for all interests, but it is reasonable that if such a situation were brought to his attention, his response would most likely be, that is one cock and bull story.
As we explore these situations, what impresses is that seemingly open and closed situations are anything but. This is because of the mental agility that is displayed over and over again here. We do not think for a moment that we are off the wall with this, for those developments (Omai gold discovery, Temporary Town Clerk muscle flexing, Chinese airport abominations, and the cause (s) of the liquefied liquor smuggling) all point to the rush of people reacting very volatile to situations.
To elaborate, ‘interchangeably’ should be interpreted to mean that those affected react negatively by providing the stunning, off-the-wall creative. It is one case after another of Guyanese and foreigners doing their own thing in their own time to suit their own caprices.
As for that Omai gold discovery, it would be surprising if the versatile people in the Guyana Government did not drum up and offer something out of this world as a cover story for the secrecy of a contract involving the state on either hand, and Omai Company on the other. In this country, as we’ve learned, give slick people time to put their heads together, and the enchanting is what leads. In this case, enchantment is a kind word for deity. A clever cover story will be trotted out to rationalize the secrecy involved, which would end that, and move on quickly. It would be another example of the dreamy cycle of the next item, the next set of skulls, and the next set of camouflages. Some are old, others are new.
It’s a clever way of doing people’s business. And as a recent opinion column contributor pointed out, corruption has little traction and less injection these days. It’s something we’ve kept a pound on, but however we’ve looked at it, things have boiled down to this: wha is “li’l teefing”? Try as we might, only one conclusion comes from such a situation: this is part of the price for our democracy. It’s an exquisite kettle of fish (Guyanese could deliberately identify piranhas) that the advent of democracy, and its obligations, have poured on this nation. Clearly, our culture brings great difficulty in adapting to the kind of quality changes that are essential for Guyana to be viable as a society, as respected people, and as a place of wealth that could not stifle it to death. When almost everyone is abusing the freedom of democracy to do their own thing in their stupid way, trouble comes.