Your Eyewitness’s granny used to tell him: “Fool ah talk but nah fool ah listen.” The folk wisdom crossed his mind when he read that the new (quite westernised physically – wink, wink! – pun intended!!) Chinese Ambassador…er Ambassadress…boasted that there’d been a fortyfold increase in Chinese investment here in the last five years. Jumping from US$256?million in 2019 to US$10.6 billion in 2024!! From her tone, the casual reader could be forgiven for thinking this was a GIFT from China to us!!
But hey!! Aren’t “investments” loans that gotta to be repaid — with interest?? And aren’t loans a Chinese tactic in “how to win friends and influence countries’ to take over the world through their grand Road and Belt Initiative strategy?? Yes, dear Madam Ambassadress – we in Mudland have learnt the hard way that there ain’t no free lunch when it comes to these international matters. We’ve been down this road so many times before!!
The Chinese strategy is just an updated version of what the Europeans did when they dragged us out of Africa to provide free labour – one of the factors of production – on their plantations. Later, they had to update that tactic for acceptability by bringing in “indentured labourers” who were supposedly more “free”. Now the Chinese aren’t moving around labour – that’s verboten!! – but they’re bringing in capital – another factor of production – but which controls the labour!!
And capital’s much easier to control since it’s just a matter of pressing buttons on a computer in this digitised world. Now, after we – and countries around the world – get snagged into the Chinese web, their next step is to get us to quit using the dollar – and pay for our goods in their currency – Chinese yuan (CNY) and renminbi (RMB). Then – like the US did after WWII – they can just print paper/money and have us send them goods. That’ll be just like the days of slavery since we’d be working for pieces of paper – while they throw back, quaffing the Chinese equivalent of rum swizzles!!
What the good Ambassadress also didn’t mention was all the Chinese supermarkets we see popping up throughout the country – even in Lethem. Now, if it’s one thing we’d done well on our own was opening up “salt-goods shops”. In our new oil-fuelled economy, the next step would be to convert them to supermarkets – as we already started. But now came the Chinese invasion – and they’re able to undersell the locals across the board?? There’ve been persistent claims that somehow they’re able to get in their goods duty-free -with the assistance of their Embassy. This needs to be investigated!!
Lastly, the Ambassadress boasted about creating 5000 jobs!! Supermarkets’ indentured servants treated like dirt!!
…an Opposition loyalist
Old PNC stalwart Amna Ally has passed. May God take mercy on her soul!! She came out of a PNC family when Indians in the early PNC were rare like fist-sized diamonds. Her dad Barakat Ally was a mason, who did very well, thank you!, to become Regional Chairman of Reg 5 in 1980 – when the results were announced even before the votes were counted!! Schoolteacher Amna – who came through the YSM ranks and was even Chair – was a candidate for Parliament in 1985 under Hoyte – when he outdid Forbes in rigging the biggest majority ever!! Good PNC roots.
Amna will be remembered fondly for two initiatives as a politician. The first was during the PPP’s no-confidence motion debate in Dec 2018 when she shouted from the government benches: “Bring it on! Bring it on! The APNU+AFC is a solid 33; you have an indecisive 32!” They lost via Charandass’ switcheroo!!
The second was six months later when she handed out $50M in tickets to a Buju Banton concert!!
