…and monsters
Beasts? Animals? What else can you call those who invaded the externally grilled home of Mohamed and Bibi Jamila Munir, herded them into their internally grilled bedroom – the one without an escape trapdoor – then doused the house with gasoline and then set it ablaze? Surely these can’t be humans? What kind of twisted thinking would inflict such a death on a couple in their seventies?
A couple who had led pious lives – provided an example to others that while piety might be mocked by some, it provided an anchor of stability in turbulent times. A couple who led industrious lives and – in the words of George Lamming, “made two blades of grass grow where there was one”. In their case, those were blades of rice, which allowed them to earn a living and raise their children – and fed us all.
A couple who had led socially conscious lives – were the members of the Rice Association – especially the wife who would’ve broken so many social barriers in the male-dominated rice farming community. Yet, forced to die not with the dignity they’d earned through their exemplary lives but screaming and gasping for air before they asphyxiated.
But their savage deaths brought to the fore the reality that a large swathe of Guyanese have to live in within Guyana, for the last four decades. The reality of physical insecurity outside the home and even in their homes. Insecurity so strong it’s a wonder more folks don’t “run off” than they have. Why did the Munirs have to grill their homes so extensively they were more heavily barricaded than the “prisoners” in 12 Camp Street?
Because ever since the era of the “kick down the door bandits” in the late seventies, the homes of some in this country were not castles in which they could relax and be at ease. Since that time people like the Munirs were seen not just as easy marks from whom loot could be extracted. But just as significantly, as slates on which a message could be inscribed and sent to their communities writ large – and their leaders.
Can those who have not been so hounded and herded to have a “prison lockdown” procedure every evening in their homes; who don’t have to worry about withdrawing money from banks; who do not have to leave their jewellery at home when they go out, imagine the sickening claustrophobia of fear that perpetually envelopes and paralyses them.
It’s no use to “hope” there will be any change in pervasive insecurity in the country. We have been assured that “all is well”.
Just celebrate 50 years of Independence! Jubilee time!!
…and power grab
Poor Nagamootoo. He’s in the news for all the wrong reasons. But it all stems from what he’s stoutly denied. To wit – he’d been effectively caponed! Or, in the words of his old comrade, President Donald Ramotar, he’d gotten Lawwah! So after collecting the $1.7M per month salary , the refurbished (air-conditioned) mansion and the SUV, he immediately plunged into intrigue and manoeuvring to finagle some real power.
He moved domestically and internationally. Abroad, he appointed four AFC campaign contributors – two from the US and two from Canada – as “Business Advisors”. He pulled the wool over Foreign Minister Greenidge’s eyes, claiming they were bringing in investments. Luckily Greenidge didn’t hold his breath.
Locally, he appointed four “representatives” – the big one in Berbice, hanging out in the old Roopmahal Cinema – even though he’s usurping constitutionally mandated Local Government functions.
Getting away with that, he moved to clip Harmon’s powers. And in his coup de grâce, he’ll be relieving the President of some powers, via “constitutional change”.
Poor fella. He might just have to be burdened by those powers!
…mercy
After writing about the Munirs, your Eyewitness learnt a young man on business from Wakenaam was accosted at one of the busiest intersections in Georgetown. The animals demanded his money and when he refused shot him, point blank.
The lunatics are running the asylum.
