Well, here we are in October and we sense that the year’s fast drawing to a close – and folks gonna start becoming frantic about Christmas shopping and all that! Your Eyewitness had always wondered whether it was because of this distraction that the disorder called “Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder” (ADHD) is commemorated this entire month!! You don’t know what is ADHD??
Well, if you’re unable to sit still, especially in calm or quiet surroundings; you’re constantly fidgeting; unable to concentrate on tasks; move around unnecessarily; excessive physical movement; talk too much; unable to wait your turn; acting without thinking and always interrupting conversations – then you’ve got ADHD, Budday!! But since that description fits most Guyanese, it could just be that all Guyanese have ADHD!! And this could explain why we can never get anything completed – we just can’t focus our attention for any extended period!!
We all know to our cost that blackouts have returned with a vengeance!! So, it gotta be that someone in charge of electricity just wasn’t focusing on the increased usage of power our oil-fuelled development would create – and the need for increased generation. ADHD!! You mean to say we can build an island in the Demerara River and we can’t increase our electricity generation and distribution?? But then from visits to Government departments and bureaucracies, it’s clear that a higher level of ADHD is a prime criterion for their employment!! Have you EVER reached a “Civil Servant” – a contradiction in terms if there ever was one!! – who took care of your issue without taking a break??
Yet our leaders picked October as “Agriculture Month”!! Yep…agriculture – which demands the patience of Job and then some!! Take even growing grass like rice much less a tree like mangoes. You gotta prepare the land by ploughing and “raking” so the fields are level like a billiards table; flood it with water of a particular depth; broadcast the paddy seeds that have been soaked to germination point; control the water levels as they grow; get rid of pests and diseases; broadcast fertilisers; after three months reap with combines and take the paddy to mills. Then wait for a year to be paid an amount that doesn’t even cover your costs!!
But let’s face it…agriculture’s the reason we’re all here – except for our Indigenous brothers and sisters – and agriculture is our future. As your Eyewitness has been emphasising, the oil’s gonna last for maybe 30 years max – and then what? Suck salt like Trinidad? No Siree Bob!! The Government’s doing the right thing by identifying all sorts of new opportunities to make a living for a century – by feeding the region and beyond!!
“25 by 25” is only the beginning!!
…for peaceful governance
It was on October 5 that democracy was returned back in 1992. The PNC under Burnham – and then Hoyte – of course had flagrantly and blatantly rigged elections – and a referendum – in 1968, 1973, 1978, 1980, and 1985 in which they gave themselves increasing majorities. Democracy became a sham and the country was destroyed because Burnham didn’t even pretend to be a benign dictator.
Violence was unleashed on anyone or any group that dared to challenge the system – even to the point of murder. This was something completely outside the democratic order we’d been promised during the centuries of colonial rule. Ironically, after democracy was returned, the PNC returned to violent confrontation to make their political demands when Hoyte launched his “mo fyaah; slow fyaah” strategy – after refusing to accept their loss in the 1997 elections.
It’s very disturbing that on their trip to Washington, the canard of “1400 young black men killed” was repeated. Without even mentioning why 400 of all races were killed.
…for Haiti
Yesterday, the UN Security Council was scheduled to vote on a US-proposed resolution for an international force – headed by Kenya with support from Caricom – to help the local Police restore order in Haiti.
Accusations of “pawns” are being hurled.
