…with poverty
There’s been a lot of talk about “poverty” stalking our not-so-fair land while money from oil gushes from under the Atlantic!! Never mind that Trotman of the PNC – yes, the PNC, not AFC; “remember Nassau”? – gave away the gushes in such an airtight binding fashion that we’re getting peanuts while the oil majors are skinning their teeth all the way to their banks. And let’s not get sucked in by this cussing out of “capitalist economic rapists”. Remember that the Chinese oil giant CNOOC’s raking in 25% of the ill-gotten gains!! For our own development, let’s remember Comrade Deng’s aphorism, that “it doesn’t matter whether the cat is black or white – once it catches mice!!” And the Chinese have done quite well with their (black) capitalist cat, thank you!!
Anyhow, the Opposition bemoaned that 48% of our people are living in “poverty” as of 2019 – when they were in office! As to whether they did anything to bring down that percentage, they (coyly) didn’t say. But the first contract of $1 billion, which they gave to one of their friendly fund-raisers and Government big wigs to build a “stadium” at Durban Park, certainly didn’t do anything to lower it!! $500 million still can’t be accounted for!! But the question of that “poverty” measure was questioned, since after we were promoted from being a Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) under the first PNC Government to a High Medium Income Country under the PPP – the qualification for being “poor” was raised from US$1.25 daily income to US$5!! It’s like where the US poor has more income than most of our “middle class”! In a word, poverty’s always relative!
Anyhow, it now appears that the income method of measuring poverty has its own problems. For instance, folks invariably understate their income. And even their “expenditure” is problematical, as we well know. We’re now assured that money alone doesn’t measure “poverty” – man doesn’t live by bread alone, remember?? So, we were just informed by our Bureau of Statistics about “multidimensional poverty”. Seems there are other dimensions to poverty, such as school attendance, educational achievement, barriers of access to health services, unemployment, food insecurity, and overcrowding in homes.
Now, this might just overturn some entrenched ideas about who’re poor in Guyana. Which has been used by opportunistic politicians to foster resentment they exploit in explosive riots against “richer” groups! So, let’s see what this might just reveal. For school attendance – which groups are more rural and their kids might slip under the radar on school attendance?? Don’t the cities and municipalities have better access to the top “premier” schools and health facilities?? And so on and so forth??
Will the rural natives now rise up??
…on Haiti
As you may know by now, dear reader, your Eyewitness got Haiti on his mind. That’s for any number of reasons – the least of which is “There, but for the grace of God, go us.” If, in the British Caribbean Guyana, we were said to be “politically precocious” – imagine Haiti overthrew their colonial ruler France over 200 years ago!! And if OUR political precocity plunged us into desperate straits – as the empire struck back with vengeance – imagine theirs have been a million times worse!!
Anyhow your Eyewitness came across a factoid he hopes gonna be circulated at the Caricom Heads of Government Meeting this week. And convince them on the need for an outside intervention. According to a UN report, between July 8 and December 31 last, gangs killed 263 people – 95 on July 8th; gang raped 57; injured 285, and disappeared four. All from just ONE neighbourhood!!
Life’s been cheap in Haiti for so long, it seems the world’s tended to now believe it. But et tu, Caricom??
…on election theft
The CoI into the elections heist by the PNC’s concluded. If it’s taught us one thing, it’s that we gotta get rid of these one-race state institutions. Too many pressures on incumbents to conform to the tribe.
