The aforesaid title is neither a gimmick nor a satire, and it certainly is not part of the lyrics of a calypso or chutney song, although the words might very well be insofar as they can serve as an outlet for defenseless people to cope with unnecessary trauma on their lives.
The title is based on real life situations. However, if you carry a last name that sounds like Granger, Nagamootoo, Ramjattan, Broomes, and so on, you need not worry about these real life situations. These individuals have been jumping from one posh office to the other, jumping from one secured environment to the other, and jumping from one salary increase to the other.
May I recall the 0,000 per month rent for Broomes paid by taxpayers?
In contrast, the real life situations reveal how people in the Upper Corentyne, and by extension the entire nation, have been living since this regime wormed itself into power two years ago. We have now become accustomed to read how Corentyne residents — including a pregnant woman — have been jumping out of their windows to escape marauding, gun-toting bandits.
We will soon read how a family has had to plunge from a roof top to escape encroaching bandits when it was a family member visiting from the back door. The perception now is to jump if you hear suspect noise or see suspect action. What a way to live! I am currently practising my jumping skills. The regime has catapulted the entire nation and diaspora into a jumping motion as if we were competing in the World Championships. We, as a nation, have become the jumping hop-scotch of the Caribbean.
The above anxiety is going on precisely when criminals have been playing a “catch me if you can” game, mocking the organizing and governing principles and skills of this defunct regime.
The buzz word is to fire Kemraj Ramjattan, but who will replace him will result in another round of Rupert Roopnaraine fiasco. We need no more of this spectacle; spare the nation, please. Our laughter has been stifled by heartless blows from this regime.
Last week, while innocent people were jumping out of windows to protect their lives, the PNC’s past was coincidentally being resurrected at the Botanical Garden. What do you expect? Are you surprised that Moses Nagamootoo was there, leading from the front? This is not a phantom of the opera but a pantomime of a politician. The message there, if you did not get it, is to challenge the gerrymandering and moribund memory of the PNC and to champion a positive past. Expect more of this every passing year, and what will emerge, I argue, is a confused battle against the narrative of memory among the younger and future generations of this country.
It has already happened. If you doubt me, please examine the narrative of columnists, letter writers, commentators in Guyana’s tabloids, the post-Hitler Germany, post-Stalin Soviet Union, and so on. I urge readers to get hold of these books: The Art of Dominance and perhaps the Weapon of the Weak by James Scott.
I am very much aware of what goes on in the villages from No. 52 to No. 74 and beyond. These are peaceful villages, and when the word gets around that someone has jumped from a window, that action is related to eloping and loving, not fleeing for your life. Look how things are changing. The people in these villages are generally amicably-oriented, not anxiety-ridden. They rely on their village customs and hard work to cohere and coexist. Look how that is changing.
Some say that these unwanted changes sweeping across the country are a result of mistakes from this regime. They have chosen a careful label. I argue that the tsunami of mistakes cannot be merely mistakes. Absolutely not! They are consequences of bombastic and barbaric persona, bereft of sound leadership and trapped in ethnic esotericism, supported by blind loyalty and tabloid tassa writers in the op-ed pages. Instead of spending more resources in security for out-reaching areas, the regime has poured millions of dollars in SARU, a semi-independent crime-fighting organization made-up of a hit squad of political operatives and supporters from the current regime, designed to go after the previous government.
As I have stated, SARU has become a problem to the solution. The regime is pushing SARU for results, even if that means witch-hunting, because it believes it is running out of time before the 2020 general election.
Paradoxically, the regime is applying its own aspersion. The million-dollar question is: would this regime exit from power peacefully if the people voted them out in 2020? This question is also directed at the ABC countries, known for a habit of disinformation. My intention is not to publicize Broomes anymore, but she has received the TIP (Trafficking in Persons) Hero award from the U.S. Please! This is not the time to giggle and jiggle.
There is a message here, resonating from the victims and villains: nip in the bud this jumping out of the window problem now, before it becomes a culture of nightmare so experienced during the kick-down-door banditry under the then PNC in the 70s and 80s. I am sure that Ramjattan does not forget how his village at No. 47 was terrorized for decades by the technique of kick-down-door banditry.
The regime does not need a one-hour programme in the media to address this scourge. It needs will power and action, irrespective of if the people in this region voted or will not vote for the PNC-led Coalition in the future. Is this asking too much? ([email protected])
