The usual greeting today is “Merry Christmas!!” So, your Eyewitness won’t be a grinch. Right up front, he wishes all his dear readers a “Merry Christmas”. And since he’s a “glass-half-full” kinda guy, here are some reasons for being merry. In this age of COVID – when folks in the “developed countries” hogged all their silver-bullet vaccines, but are dying like flies – we haven’t done that badly, have we? We gotta thank Pres Ali and his team for going the extra mile and scrounging all over the world for vaccines. Because, to be honest, we haven’t really been good boys and girls in getting vaccinated and observing our social protocols! But we woke up this morning, didn’t we? And that’s a big reason to be merry!!
Another positive is that even though there have been some Opposition sour-pusses around, dubbing the Government an “illegally installed cabal” and calling for protests on every issue under the sun and then some, they’ve been studiously ignored by the majority of their constituents!! Guyanese know when their chains are being yanked!! All of the PNC “influencers” called the alarmists and provocateurs out with their anti-vaxxer line – which they tried to disguise by calling it “free choice”!! Who’d they think they were foolin’??
But the biggest positive was that the PNC FINALLY – after 64 years – held an election that wasn’t fixed or rigged!! Your Eyewitness has always maintained that no matter how you cut it, slice it or dice it, the PNC’s here to stay. Ethnic differences don’t just disappear like that – not because of the differences as such, but because there will always be leaders who’ll exploit those cleavages! A lot of credit must go to the integrity of the fella picked to mediate, conciliate and arbitrate among the various factions – all of whom knew personally how the system could be jimmied!
And out of that election, the PNC got a leader – Aubrey Norton – who undoubtedly has the support of the masses of the PNC representatives. Some have been caviling about the low voter-turnout of the PNC membership – less than 49%. But hey!! Have you, dear reader, tried this “virtual platform” for voting? If you can’t get kids to use virtual platforms with teachers and parents pushing, what about party members who’re stretched and stressed about getting that Christmas Dinner on the table!?!
So, c’mon fellas, let’s dive into that ginger beer or fruit-punch bowl, sop up that pepper-pot broth with that plait-bread, dig into that roast pork, and finally round it off with a hearty slab of black cake!!
Remember, “Christmas comes but once a year. Now it’s here, now it’s here! Let’s
be merry!!
…and jeers
But while he’s an optimist, that doesn’t mean your Eyewitness has closed his eyes and acts as if all the negatives around him have disappeared! He’s hopeful…NOT hopeless!! So, some jeers to those who still want to move the goalposts after they lost office in 2020 – by the same rules they’d gained office in 2015! Have they learnt nothing from the great CLR, who asked, “What they know of cricket who only cricket know?” Cricket that defines the true West Indian – even off the field. You “walk” when that finger goes up.
And some great West Indians have walked even without the finger!!
And then we hear that only 57,995 tonnes of sugar were produced in 2021. Now, of course, we’ll hear about “rains and floods”. But hey!! Why weren’t production targets “revised”?? Were they just plucked out of thin air? The target was set at 97,000 tons in view of last year’s travails. Then, AFTER the floods, this was revised to 79,000 tons!
We need explanations for the missing 21,000 tons.
…and sorrow
Your Eyewitness waited and waited…but silence. One of the greatest feminists of all times – bell hooks – passed on just over a week ago.
Was it because she was a “Black” feminist?
