Joining in…independence bash

Even as Sanction Man is in the throes of his last-ditch (Hail Mary??) effort at the CCJ to delay his inevitable deportation to Stateside, his minions have been frantically trying to create some relevance for themselves in society. They seem totally clueless on parlaying their role as the official POLITICAL opposition to the Government to gain political traction. But then they’ve defined themselves as being card-carrying members of Guyana’s Scrapehead fraternity – more adept at creating mayhem in the streets than offering better plans to develop our country than the Government!! And hopefully convince voters that THEY oughta be the Government come 2030!!
Yesterday being the first anniversary of the tragic death of that child, Adrianna Young – your Eyewitness expected Sanction Man and his WIN vehicle – which came to national notoriety through fanning the flames of the family’s grief into nihilistic rage against the PPP Government – to use the occasion for a reprise!! Hopefully they wouldn’t descend into a repetition of the burning and looting swathes of GT but confine themselves to taking verbal pot shots at the Government!! At the time, Sanction Man had promised that if WIN were to win last year’s election, he’d request the FBI to investigate Adrianna’s death. Well, he now has a constitutional role as Leader of the Opposition (the LOO), and your Eyewitness feels if he were really concerned about the circumstances of the child’s death, he’d have used his tight (financial?) connections with the child’s parents and relatives to initiate an investigation!! As it is, the Government has ordered an inquest to be conducted.
But then your Eyewitness noticed that the WIN second-tier leaders – headed by their General Secretary and comedian Odessa Primus – made an incredible announcement concerning the upcoming 60th anniversary of our independence!! She criticised the PPP trenchantly on how they’ve commemorated the day during their now 29 post-independence years at the helm!! She announced they were gonna “restore meaning, dignity and national pride to the country’s independence celebration” – with six weeks of activities under the theme “Rooted in Identity – Rising in Destiny”!! Imagine that!!
Now, your Eyewitness has no problems about going beyond “surface-level celebration” as was claimed. So, does this mean WIN’s gonna expose Forbes Burnham and his PNC’s machinations to betray the independence movement for the 30 pieces of silver to run Guyana?? Will they expose how their 1962 Black Friday demonstrations led to the burning down of GT’s business district? Or the racial civil war that spread from the coastal villages to Wismar? And how was Burnham on the CIA’s payroll??
These made a mockery of real independence – which should’ve meant bringing together all Guyanese to enjoy independence – rather than just PNC members?!!

…India bashing
For quite a while, Trump and India’s Modi projected a close relationship with the former’s “Howdy Modi” rally in the States and the latter’s following up with an even more massive “Namaste Trump” event in India. These were presumably going to lead to closer relations with the two nations – especially with India considering itself as about to enter the “superpower” big leagues – along with the US and China.
Well, India got a rude awakening when Trump hit its exports to the US with massive 50 per cent tariffs – while demanding favourable access into the Indian agricultural sector!! But in all of this, India kept its (diplomatic) cool!! However, when Pres Trump reposted material on Truth Social from conservative broadcaster Michael Savage, attacking birth-right citizenship in the US – and claiming migrants come from ‘China or India or some other hellhole on the planet’, the Indian reserve fell apart!!
India’s Ministry of External Affairs issued an unusually direct response by asserting that the comments were ‘uninformed, inappropriate and in poor taste’!!!
Whew!!

…the oil-fuelled boom
Your Eyewitness is pretty chuffed that the 172-room Four Points by Sheraton Guyana along the Heroes Highway was officially opened by the press!! Especially since it integrates Guyanese decor, colours and artwork inspired by our rivers, forests and Indigenous heritage!!