Arrivals…

…and Departures
Three days ago, we commemorated Portuguese Arrival Day. Obviously, there aren’t many Portuguese around to participate in the commemoration, since, in the event organised by the Ministry of Social Cohesion, the “Portuguese” experience expressed by the Guyana National Dance Company was done entirely by Guyanese of African extraction. Your Eyewitness knows ALL the Portuguese haven’t decamped, and wondered whether those remaining didn’t want to be reminded about their “indentured” past.
Anyhow, yesterday was Indian Arrival Day – at long last acknowledged by the Government as such – and there was no lack of commemoration. There had been hopes that a monument designed by Guyanese and built by India to mark the Arrival in the ancient county would’ve been erected at Palmyra right across from the Berbice Bridge. However, the contractor of the historical site – all the way from Linden – must’ve been a history buff, since he had absolutely no experience in building anything. In constructing what was supposed to be the base, he actually reconstructed the ruins, characterising the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria!!
What it took to do in thousands of years in the original Palmyra, this Linden contractor did in three months! At a cost of only $89 million. In the meantime, the Government of Guyana has begged the Government of India to build the base, and maybe it’ll be ready in time for Modi’s visit?
Some spoilsport was gauche enough to ask recently whether the moneys will be recovered from the Linden contractor!! Hey!! Anybody can make a mistake, no? And in any case, Linden needs to be revitalized, since the billions from LEAP and LEAF seem to have been calcined!
But back to Indian Arrival Day. Your Eyewitness hasn’t seen the pics from the commemoration the Ministry of Social Cohesion must have put on – they would, wouldn’t they? But he’s sure the dancers depicting THEIR experience would be Indian Guyanese, since they haven’t all migrated yet, like the Portuguese. And that reminds your Eyewitness…with the Portuguese practically all departed, aren’t we now officially a “land of FIVE peoples”?? This question was first raised with attenuation of the Chinese population…but thank goodness that situation was rectified by China, and their population is now being replenished!
Anyhow, your Eyewitness appreciates all the trouble the PNC-led Government took to recreate the conditions on the sugar plantations during indentureship. At that time, the planters used to keep on bringing in Indian indentureds to fight each other for jobs. By throwing 5700 of them out of their jobs – one out of every three in the industry!! – they’re not only fighting for jobs, but converting their homes like the logies of yore!! The PNC’s so history-minded!!

…at GPL
The PPP received flack for bringing in ‘furriners” to run the electricity company – which was a bit ironic, since they were always being blamed for being communist and the “furriners” were as capitalist as could be! The electricity supply was increased by a factor of over TWENTY by Wartsila in the time they were here, and while there were still blackouts, our demand kept increasing faster than the supply.
Enter the PNC-led coalition and they promptly threw Wartsila out on its ear and replaced them with a local band of “experts” whom no one had heard of before!! And now, lo and behold, for the first time in Guyanese history, the Public Utilities Commission has slapped a fine on GPL for their erratic service to consumers!! That just signals how far the deterioration of GPL’s service has gone.
But don’t worry…there won’t be any departures soon at GPL…things have to be kept ‘all in the family”, don’t they??
What we’ll get is more big talk about generating power from gas. But that’s actually just passing gas!!

…in Police Brass
The trial balloon on the new Commissioner of Police was duly floated, and the favourite son averred he was “willing and able”.
With not even a pot shot taken, we can assume the official anointment is nigh!!