They say you can’t put your toe into the same river twice – the river would’ve flowed on, and the waters would’ve been different!! And while not as dramatically, our societies also change over time, even though the effects of such change take time to be manifested. Our ethnic politics have been with us for so long that many despair it would ever change. But change it must – especially when there are those like the PPP, who’re working day in and day out to break the old walls and cleavages.
So, your Eyewitness wasn’t surprised when, on Pressie’s walkabout a couple of days ago in Melanie Damishana on the ECD, former PNC executive James Bond threw his support behind him for the upcoming elections!! Bond was very close to former PNC Chair Volda Lawrence, and, as a prominent campaigner, was considered by some as a contender for the top rung.
Quite young, and a lawyer to boot, he was gonna be one of the new members who’d carry the PNC flag forward.
But after his Godmother Volda fell out of favour with the hardliners in the PNC – when she condemned the incendiary remarks of Granger and Harmon to stir up anti-Indian violence in West Berbice after the attempted 2020 rig – he also faded. But he did go out under a cloud when, as an attorney for several land speculators, he became embroiled in accusations of illegal flipping of NICIL lands. Millions of US dollars were involved!! In any case, he came out from under that dark cloud and went into running a bar and lounge in Melanie, which he did very successfully.
It was one of the few times – if ever – that a member of the PNC actually ran a business successfully!! Not only that, but he encouraged other young African Guyanese in the area to get into entrepreneurship. Recently, it appeared that he put together a bunch of youths to farm a five-acre plot, and was assisted by the Government, and Pressie in particular!
Now, this is what the PPP has been preaching to Guyana: that their job ain’t just to pass out cash handouts, but to facilitate training and gearing young people to successfully run their own businesses!! So, what your Eyewitness thinks we’re witnessing is a wave that might just be transformed into a tsunami to overwhelm the PNC come the elections later this year. While the old fogies in the WPA might dub this phenomenon “slave catching”, it’s gonna be almost impossible for them todo anything about it.
Everybody wants to make money, and this means being pragmatic about political support. No entrepreneur is gonna cut their nose to spoil their face, excepting some who might be “genetically” predisposed!!
Let the good times roll, baby!!
…nothing!!
Well, it’s a done deal!! Mad Maduro has been sworn-in by the Head of the National Assembly, whom he controls, after he was declared winner of the July elections!! This was done by the Director of the Elections Council — whom he also controls — even though he’s yet to show the details of the voting as had been done in every other previous election!! The real winner of the election – Edmundo Gonzales – in the meantime said he’s flying back to Venezuela, even though Mad Maduro has put a US$100,000 bounty on his head!!
Mad Maduro seems to be deliberately tweaking Uncle Sam’s coattails, and must’ve calculated that the lame duck Biden won’t do anything drastic!! He claims to havearrested seven “mercenaries” – two Americans, two Spanish and three Ukrainians – and accused the Yanks of being behind a move to stage a coup!! But, critically, he’s forestalled the promised mass opposition protests by deploying the “organs of integral direction”, that combine the army, militia, police and community that “maintains” order!!
…race
Your Eyewitness has now heard it all. The embattled senior police officer who’s facing a gazillion charges for corruption – and proof he has $800 million in the banks – has just countered that he’s been the victim of “racial discrimination”!!
