Here comes…

…the grief thief
In Guyana, even grief must apparently make room for Sanction Man as he exploits the bully pulpit of the LOO to not only virtue signal but also milk the grief to further his political agenda, which is to prevent his extradition to a Miami Court!! There’s a name for these kinda people – grief thief, tragedy vampire or, more clinically, performative mourner!! Your Eyewitness has seen this so many times before with Sanction Man – starting with Adrianna Younge’s tragic death that he helped inflame into the burning down of the hotel and arson and looting in Georgetown!
So here it was – on public invitation – survivors and bereaved families had assembled at the Convention Center to meet the Commissioners of the Inquiry into the Barima sinking – and suddenly the occasion acquires another emotion – the raw political ambition of Sanction Man!! He and fellow WIN parliamentarians interjected themselves upon the meeting and commandeered attention intended for the bereaved families!! The man had the temerity to challenge the commission’s credibility – before its public hearings had begun. Apparently, the verdict can arrive ahead of the evidence – once Sanction Man decides so!!
Now, the families have every right to ask hard questions – their concerns about salvaging the vessel, recovering loved ones, and examining its maintenance history are serious and deserve answers!! Several voiced those concerns and showed they clearly possess voices, without requiring an opportunistic politician to supply the soundtrack!!
So, look how conveniently an encounter with grieving people becomes another opportunity to PERFORM indignation. While the Commissioners have gotta establish what happened, the clout-chaser can simply announce that he has no confidence and reap the publicity!! While one job requires patient investigation, the other just needs a microphone!!
This is what made the intervention look so cynically like victim-chasing – and we can expect to see it repeated at Mabaruma and Port Kaituma!! The families’ anguish offers a ready-made audience, an emotionally charged backdrop, and the chance to pose as their indispensable champion!! But compassion becomes difficult to distinguish from campaigning when the champion keeps occupying centre stage!!
If Sanction Man wanna help, there’s useful work available in abundance – assisting families in preparing questions, obtaining advice and presenting information, press for transparent proceedings, and scrutinising the eventual findings. But none of that requires turning a meeting for survivors into a political roadside show!! But patient assistance does have one terrible disadvantage, innit?? – somebody else might receive the attention!! The Barima families deserve the space to speak – they shouldn’t have to compete with a playing starboy!!
Hear nah, man – when people come fu’ talk about dem dead, got the decency to let them finish, na!!

…a plague??
From his Sunday school days, your Eyewitness developed a healthy fear of plagues – which God has inflicted on the Egyptians!! Matters weren’t improved when in school he learnt about the bubonic plague that caused the Black Death in Europe in the 1300s – which literally wiped out half of Europe’s population!! It had originated in Central Asia and spread along trade routes.
So you can imagine your Eyewitness’s state of mind when he learned that an individual at a Russian lab has died from a bacteria that causes “pneumonic plague”. Now there are three main ways plagues can infect humans – bubonic plague occurs when the plague-causing bacteria multiplies in the lymph nodes, usually after a bite from infected fleas and rats. Septicaemic plague occurs when the infection spreads to the bloodstream, and the most virulent type is pneumonic plague, which causes a severe, rapid-onset lung infection and can be spread through a cough or a sneeze!
We’re told not to worry – like with Covid from China!!

…football’s new era
While Pele may be the “player of the 20th century”, Argentina’s Lionel Messi, who just played his final game, with his modern longevity, elite tactical adaptation, and sheer volume of individual and team trophies, has gotta be the 21st century’s!!