…by “Christopher” Harmon
Even though, as soon as he landed on Watling Island, Columbus saw people running around the place, he announced he’d “discovered a “New World”! The world didn’t exist before it was seen by Columbus and Europeans! Leader of the Opposition (LOO) Joseph Harmon, appears to’ve succumbed to the same narcissistic impulse in Parliament in his closing statement on the Budget Debate.
He suddenly “discovered” that Guyana has a “race problem”!! And, of course, he blamed it all on the PPP, who, by their rampant “discrimination”, are pushing the country over the brink! Harmon and the PNC, of course, are purer than Caesar’s wife in the creation and maintenance of this condition! Never mind that the country was more united than “batty and po” under the PPP after their dramatic massive win in 1953, until Burnham split the races by forming the PNC! It was “Leader or nothing!” and, unfortunately, it was Guyana that got nothing after Burnham became leader!
The PNC was handed the opportunity to bring Guyana together after they slid into office in coalition with the AFC – which had a fair share of Indian-Guyanese to complement the PNC’s African- Guyanese core. But what did they do? Followed Burnham’s example from the sixties and effectively dumped the AFC by emasculating their leadership – and threw 7000 mostly Indian-Guyanese sugar workers on the breadline!! That alone set back race relations in Guyana for another two decades, without factoring in the hundreds of Indian-Guyanese dumped from the bureaucracy.
Harmon scoffed at the Ali Administration’s announcement of a “One Guyana” initiative, and pointed to the “Social Cohesion Ministry” the coalition had formed. But with all the huge sums allocated to this entity – some $929M in 2019 alone – can Harmon point to a single accomplishment towards bringing the nation together?
What the PPP Government should immediately do is to conduct an audit of how that huge sum was spent. Bet it dwarfs the graft exposed in the Infrastructure Ministry with their million-dollar bracelets, TVs and bedroom sets!
But all Guyana knows that whatever divisions exist – and race is one of them – these are exacerbated during our election cycles. So, who was it that drove Guyana to the racial brink after 2015 other than Harmon’s PNC? Who delayed the elections demanded by the PPP’s successful NCM? Who tried to rig the elections exactly one year ago, after such a peaceful and orderly voting day exercise?
And then the final straw: who inflamed the crowds in W. Berbice after the Henry killings, and then exploited it by complimenting the “protestors” who were beating and looting Indian-Guyanese commuters? And this man has the temerity to blame the PPP?
Gwan da side to the loo, LOO!
…of empathy
Your Eyewitness’s heart goes out to that poor Venezuelan woman who was “raped, sodomised and battered” by that sadist. While this may be an extreme instance, the exploitation of these undocumented refugees from Maduro’s House of Horror has become the norm. And like the Police who contemptuously “pelted” her clothes at her, they’re treated like dirt because they’re selling sexual services to keep bodies and souls together – including those of their children.
We should remember that, from the mid-seventies, under the Jackboot of Burnham’s state apparatus and his goons like “kick-down-the-door” bandits, our women were forced to do the same thing in Suriname, Venezuela and every Caribbean island! Let’s not stick our heads in the sand. For these poor Venezuelan women, it’s literally a matter of life and death, and the Guyanese nation should deal with then with compassion. Your Eyewitness understands we’re very poor, to begin with.
But so were many in the countries where we found refuge from Burnham’s depredations.
…of the Whim geriatrics
It was the first anniversary of the March 2 elections they swore the coalition won. But we didn’t hear a squeak from Granger and Nagamootoo – who insisted they won.
On the basis of Mingo’s manipulations on that dirty bed sheet!!
