It’s of more than passing interest that, more than three centuries after the founding of the three colonies that became “Guyana”, we still refer to our “interior” – or, worse yet, the “hinterland”!! – an amorphous, undifferentiated blob behind our coastland, where most of us continue to live! What makes it even more ironic is that the Dutch founders actually first settled parts of that “interior” – the riverine areas along the rivers and creeks. They established plantations for tropical agricultural crops, which they sold to European markets. Look how deep in the interior was Cuffy’s Rebellion over in Berbice, and Kyk-Over-Al in Essequibo!!
But that perception’s about to change – and just because of the building of the Linden-Lethem Highway. Of course, that’s gonna open up hundreds of thousands of acres of land for cultivation – think more soya and corn etc; cities – think of half a dozen Silica cities; cattle ranches – think of the old Dadanawa Ranch that collapsed cause it was too expensive to fly up the meat; tourism – think of all the unspoiled beauty and unspoiled biological diversity for tourism. And who’s gonna do all of this, you ask dear reader? Well, the US CONTINENT wasn’t opened up by volunteer labour – as Burnham tried to do with our “hinterland”!! It took good, ole fashioned, greedy Robber Barons like Vanderbilt – who just wanted to make money!! If we had the will of those old Dutchmen – who were motivated by wealth as well! – we could’ve long been inland and enjoying the bounty of our continental destiny!! But they say it’s never too late, don’t they??
Pres Ali appears to have that will power – and will now be even more willing, ready and able to unleash the spirit of entrepreneurship over our land, since his party members have abandoned the party’s socialist cant. They’ve openly embraced the principle that “private enterprise gonna be the engine of growth”!! So, we can see that the building of Silica City was just the beginning, and the plans gonna be made available to the private sector to execute. It’s money that makes the world go round, baby – and will make the blooming of our “interior” a reality.
But your Eyewitness wants to know, dear reader, whether you saw all those delegates from “the interior” at the PPP’s 32nd Congress? While he doesn’t have the actual numbers, from just eyeballing the gathering, he figured they made up at least one-third!! And that gives political power, baby!! The political power to become both drivers of the new interior developmental thrust and its equitable beneficiaries.
We coastlanders gonna have to start getting used to our Indigenous Peoples – who’re the vast majority of our “hinterlanders” – being on par with, or even exceeding, us economically!!
…our dancing vibes
The chatter about Pressie putting on his dancing shoes at his party’s 32nd Congress is still the “talk of the town”!! Well, it’s just widening his political exposure to demographics that would’ve never seen him in that light!! And that’s what the Opposition’s really worried about, innit?? But your Eyewitness – being of the seventies’ generation – just remembered the song from that era, which he thinks is quite apropos to our situation. And a good riposte to those who would rather that Pressie becomes a wailing Jeremiah rather than expressing his camaraderie with his party members in dance.
“So much going on out there/ Leaves us hanging in the air/ And it’s all that we can do/ To face each day and see it through/ Life’s a dance/ Put on your dancing shoes, take a chance/ You can’t shut your eyes to pain/ Faces crying in the rain/ You can’t keep it all inside/. You need some way to let it ride/ Life’s a dance/ Put on your dancing shoes, take a chance”
