Whoever said money can’t buy friends was clearly someone with no money!! We may quibble about what kinda friends were bought…but that’s another question altogether, innit? But it’s an important question that must be answered!! With our dear ole Mudland grabbing headlines across the world about our massive oil find and our “highest growth rate in the world”, we’ve been inundated with new friends!
Can you believe that Trinis – who used the word “Guyanese” as a swear word equivalent to our “s*unt! – are now flocking our shores and digging up long forgotten ancestors to claim they’re Guyanese?? And the less we speak about the Bajans, who created a special bench for us at their airport – as if we had cocubeh – the better!!
But then we’ve been flocking to foreign shores for decades for money – ANY foreign shore!! Since Burnham had crashed us to hover precariously just above Haiti on the poverty charts, only THAT benighted country didn’t see an influx of Guyanese!! Yes, Dear Reader, there are Guyanese in Timbuktu!! We did all the dirty jobs the locals scorned. But in all fairness, with our new-found oil wealth gushing in all of a sudden, we do need some outsiders who may have skills that we lack for some of the new industries that are expected to be springing up. Like building Bridges across rivers!! But do we need all the supermarkets run by furriners opening up all over the place?? Isn’t this a new form of colonization?
After Emancipation in 1838, some newly-freed, formerly enslaved Africans rushed to fill the gap in supplying food that wouldn’t be provided by the planters, no mo. They started selling “provisions” to their fellow emancipated brothers and sisters – but they were soon undercut by Portuguese who’d arrived as indentured labourers. They brought with them knowledge of importing goods, and were given credit by the white rulers. Isn’t this what’s happening with Trinis and Chinese opening up supermarkets every block across the land?? Sure, they’re selling some stuff cheaper and they have a wide selection of goods – but shouldn’t the authorities be looking at the long-term effect?? Soon it’ll be beaten into the heads of ALL Guyanese that “we can’t run supermarkets. We don’t have the head!”
But your Eyewitness wonders why we weren’t prepared for carpetbaggers and grifters to arrive like locusts!! After all, the hustlers in the world of business – and in business, “hustler” is quite redundant!! – have been informed we’re a prime candidate to be ravished. Just like when Raleigh saw us 600 years “like a virgin that hasn’t lost her maidenhead!!”
Your Eyewitness believes that the authorities must designate some sectors as “off limits” to these carpet-baggers!! Say no to economic rape!!
…mugging
Some say everything moves in circles…and there’s REALLY nothing new under the sun!! Is this why we’re suddenly experiencing a wave of motorcycle bandits in our not-so-fair capital?? The phenomenon without bikes had exploded back in the 1960s – and was called “choke-and- rob” – when the PNC was in the throes of ousting the elected PPP Government. Perceived PPP supporters – read Indian-Guyanese, especially rural – who ventured into the city were targeted for condign treatment. And what began as a random series of attacks exploded into a directed tsunami.
So, in this new season of Opposition discontent – when they’re again trying to oust an elected PPP Government by any means necessary, after their foiled rigging attempt – are we to expect the new wave of choke-and-rob to again explode into a mugging tsunami?? Now, your Eyewitness doesn’t want to be an alarmist – but this upsurge is troubling.
In NY, for instance, an upsurge in street muggings precipitated new policing tactics. Why not in GT??
