Setting…

…sights high

Fresh from his visit to “shining” Qatar – while announcing economic growth figures that would make the old Guyanese economic prophets choke on their mauby – Pressie declared that his job ain’t only to unite Guyana, but to “upturn every root of hate, every obstacle of betrayal, and advance the one unified Guyana.” Well, by now, you Dear Readers would know that your Eyewitness is very gung-ho about our young, enthusiastic, and action-orientated President – but he’s gotta wonder if Pressie’s allowing his idealism to get the better of himself here!!
Upturn every root of hate? Here in Guyana, that’s gonna challenge even the son of God himself – who promised a second coming! Some of those roots go so deep, they reach all the way back to 1964, when Burnham demonstrated he was willing to destroy the society and people, just so he got power!! That sentiment continues to be watered by his successors and gets plenty of fertiliser every five years at election time!!
And now with the help of social media we even have folks who once were in the forefront of opposing Burnham by crying, “One Love”, now foaming from the mouth as they push Burnham’s divisive mantra that only “his people” deserve Guyana’s largesse!! These are people who remind youths exactly who their great-grandparents voted for – and insist that “unity” means they should follow suit!!
These are people who would continue to rig elections to rule – but insist that the PPP Government ain’t “democratic”, though they won a clear majority of the votes!! Quoting a constitutional article calling for inclusivity, they insist this means bringing them into the Government – and not fulfilling their duty as the Opposition!! Then there’s the new kid on the block – Sanction Man, who’s now the LOO – fostering hate by nit-picking at even the concrete gains the Government has achieved!!
Pressie’s clearly counting on his equitable development programme from the oil money to complicate the old bacchanal!! That when roads, bridges, hospitals, education, electricity, and jobs start reaching places that were accustomed to being forgotten, it’s gonna be harder to convince people that their future depends entirely on which ethnic team wins the election!!
And because this is the real threat to the politics of grievance and hate, he should expect vicious – and maybe even violent – rearguard actions to keep hate alive!! Remember these haters only need SOME diehards to upset our gains – like we saw with Sanction Man after the Adrianna Young fiasco!! So, pulling out Guyana’s roots of hate is gonna require more than Pressie’s hope!! These people who’ve lived off those roots for decades have turned ethnic bile into full-time occupations!!
Pressie has gotta have plenty of sharp hoes!!

…new Banking
Your Eyewitness is pretty chuffed that US Citibank just opened an office here. Now that we’re pulling in revenues amounting to hundreds of billions in US greenbacks, we need banks that aren’t fazed by these numbers!! With US$2.4 to US$2.8 trillion in assets and a market capitalisation (share value) of $217 billion, they certainly fit the bill!!
But your Eyewitness wonders why JPMorgan, which is much larger than Citi in every respect – including its global footprint – hasn’t shown up?? Could it be they’re still miffed that their original presence – as Chase Manhattan on the ground floor of the BoG Building – was nationalised by the PNC back in the day?? They were renamed “Republic Bank” – not the present Trini entity!! – which then merged with GBTI, itself the nationalised Bank of Canada!!
The fact of the matter is, with the US dollar’s role in intermediating world trade for the foreseeable future, it’s to our advantage to have access directly with American banks – and not through representative relations via our local banks!

…double standards
After Pressie invited members of the Foreign Relations and Economic Services Committees – on which Opposition members sit – Sanction Man rejected WIN MPs attending!!
He’s willing to use his MPs as bait to push his personal agenda!!