Looaking…

Looaking…
… home for money

Back in the day – starting after Burnham ruined Guyana lock, stock and barrel – Guyanese folks started fleeing Guyana – not only because he’d left them “hungry, naked and homeless”- but because they didn’t even have a “gill” in the bank and no hope of ever depositing one!! But here it was – to your Eyewitness’ utter befuddlement – the local Demerara Bank showed up in “Little Guyana’s” Liberty Avenue in Queens, New York to sign up Guyanese Americans for accounts to make deposits in Guyana!!
So many people showed up that the lines snaked for blocks from the local Bakewell outlet in front of which the Demerara Bank staffers had set up shop!! Your Eyewitness thought that maybe Bakewell was throwing in some Guyana Black Cake as a bonus?? But naaah!! It was simply that suddenly everybody wants an account in Guyana!! Your Eyewitness figures that ICE hadn’t gotten wind of the activity because they could’ve filled their quota of arrests and deportations – and then some – if they’d shown up!!
But your Eyewitness found the scene in Little Guyana a tad touching!! Here it was, men and women who’d packed up their lives decades ago, escaping a poverty-stricken homeland – through the backtrack and front track – were lining up to open accounts in the very country they’d fled – and described to their kids in the most horrible terms!! What the heck was going on?? Was it because they suddenly developed a burning desire to support the Guyanese financial system??
Sadly, the answer was much more pecuniary!! They’d heard that the Guyana Government’s handing out cash grants, pensions and other benefits – and they wanted to make sure their money has somewhere to go locally!! It’s a remarkable reversal of fortune from back then when the question was: “How much money can I scrounge to leave Guyana?” to the present, “How much money can Guyana give me?!!”
Prospective customers were told to come with their “proof of addresses” and “proof of employment and income” and your Eyewitness wondered if the “proof of address” demanded in Guyana by Demerara Bank – showing a physical letter to the applicant to the claimed address – was enforced!! From the response, the bank officials could reasonably wonder whether the applicants thought they were opening bank accounts or establishing a new branch of the Guyana Government Treasury in Queens!!
If the Government keeps the grants and pensions coming, Demerara Bank may soon discover that the easiest way to attract Guyanese American depositors ain’t with higher interest rates as is the norm in the banking industry – they just gotta announce the next payout!!
The line on Liberty Avenue gonna stretch all the way on the Van Wyck Expressway to JFK!!

…for evidence
Your Eyewitness is happy the GPF cleared up an unfortunate ambiguity in the reporting of the goings on in Sanction Man’s extradition case in the Magistrate Court – as it concerned Special Branch Inspector Narine’s testimony referring to his disposal of some notes he’d made while interrogating Sanction Man and his Daady. Asked as to what he’d done with the notes, the Inspector said he’d burnt them in his HQ’s incinerator!!
Somehow this got reported – on the imputation of Sanction Man’s lawyers!! – as if the Inspector had burned EVIDENCE!! The GPF clarified that – as is the case in every government dept or corporate office – there’s a records retention schedule in place for getting rid of superfluous documents that contain sensitive info. It’s done typically by shredding, soaking or burning!! Hence the incinerator!!
As the police clarification stated, the pertinent parts of the notes pertaining to Sanction Man’s case had been incorporated in the Inspector’s report submitted to the Court.
The superfluous was destroyed according to procedure!!

…at Curry Chicken!!
The rivalry between our Warriors and T&T’s Knight Riders is a real boost for the CPL T20 Tournament – extending into the correct culinary nomenclature on chicken curry!!
This year’s competition boosted the hype with TKR’s departure!!