…Oct 5?
Today’s the 31st anniversary of the day Guyana moved from the darkness of a dictatorship into the light of democracy. It’s a day no Guyanese should ever forget – nor take for granted. While there is always a multiplicity of factors that shape a country’s history, we know, to our cost, that ours was primarily due to a confluence of the ambitions of one Guyanese leader and the arrogance of one superpower leader that plunged us over the precipice. The Guyanese leader was Forbes Burnham; the superpower leader was the USA’s John F. Kennedy, and the context was the Cold War between the USA and the USSR.
Today we’re beyond the cusp of a new Cold War – this time between the USA and China. So maybe we can learn a thing or two from our first tango?? We were moseying along very well, thank you – weaseling our way into independence from the Brits to wend our way in the world on our own. Up came Castro, who embarrassed the newly-elected JFK by repelling a US-backed invasion to overthrow him for his communist proclivities. Now, JFK had been accused by the anti-communist Nixon of being “soft on commies” – so when Jagan didn’t clearly declare that he wasn’t a “fellow traveller”, everyone but him knew his goose was cooked!
The Yanks had read the ambitious Burnham – who’d already tried three times to replace Jagan as the PPP leader – as willing to “tack and turn” with every breeze that could fill his sail. And so it was, when Burnham went up to Washington, he told the Americans what they wanted to hear (“I’ll do whatever you want, boss”!!); a few riots were fomented by the CIA in Georgetown, some money was passed to build up the PNC, and Burnham was in!! From there on, he took matters into his own hands, and found ways to rig elections until he croaked!!
Now, in this new Cold War, America’s already fired some salvos at the Chinese – not missiles, but sanctions, this time around!! – and Guyana, with its newly discovered oil, is again on the Americans’ radar!! Thing is, the PNC was in office when the oil was discovered, they gave the US oil giant Exxon the sweetheart deal of an oil contract for the millennium – but yet they were voted out!! Your Eyewitness thinks it’s because they tried Burnham’s rig manoeuvre without the Americans’ approval – but this time, commie Jagan wasn’t the alternative!! This PPP wasn’t shy about signalling they knew which side their bread was buttered!!
And the PNC’s goose was cooked!! They cussed out the Yanks for “installing” the PPP – but yet went up to Washington last week to install THEM!
Go figure!!
…our food future
Today, Pres Ali’s receiving an award from the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) conference in Costa Rica – for “Leadership in Food Security and Sustainable Development”. Now, while of course it’s a personal award for the President’s indefatigable efforts to push the boundaries of our agro-potential within our region, it’s also a recognition of our country’s capability to go far beyond the Caribbean to help feed a world in which “food insecurity” is unfortunately becoming an everyday expression.
While we have a vast landmass of 83,000 square miles, 90% of our population live on the narrow coast that was carved out from mangrove swamps by the Dutch two centuries ago. These lands remain uniquely fertile, but in our interior are vast savannahs in which massive amounts of food can be produced with the appropriate treatment – which we can now afford, due to our oil revenues.
Even our highland regions have the potential to produce crops that demand cooler climes. The sky’s literally the limit for our food potential!!
