Under…cover?

We Guyanese march to our own beat – and that beat’s only distinction is its unpredictability!! Right now our existential question seems to be “to tint or not to tint”!! That’s right!! For years we’ve been debating whether – under our stark tropical sun’s direct rays – we can reduce the heat and glare in our cars. But we just can’t seem to get it right. At one time the decision was “OFF WITH THE TINT!!” But everybody in authority – meaning everyone who “knew” somebody!! – kept theirs, which led to indignant cries of injustice!! The unkindest cut of all was the Police who demanded your tint be pulled off, rolled up in TINTED cars!!
Tinting had moved from being utilitarian and practical to being a status symbol!! When you saw a tinted vehicle – the darker the better! – you figured it hid a “big one”!!  It was like Sanction Man wearing his dark glasses even at night!! So what if drivers in tinted cars drove into canals at night?? Didn’t Sanction Man need a scrapehead to hold his hands at night?? It was what the tint (and shades) signalled, baby!! What was the reason for fighting for our freedoms if we couldn’t have equal access to tinting? And while it used to be a question for the “haves”, after the Government delivered a car to every door, the question affects one and all!!
One attempt to control tinting was for permission to be granted by the Ministry of Home Affairs – by writing a letter explaining why you needed the tint. Just saying that the glare was discomfiting – especially when the sun was at an acute angle, like at 15:00h when your Eyewitness sometimes drove home – wouldn’t cut it!! After all, that would allow EVERYONE to have a tint, wouldn’t it?? Nah…you had to come up with some reason related to the ban on the tinting to begin with: for instance, that you carried around large amounts of cash and you could be robbed!! Sanction Man would’ve been allowed tint – if he could get insurance on his illegally gotten cars!! He always needs cash at hand to pay his rent-a-crowd!!
Anyhow, your Eyewitness notes that the new Minister of Home Affairs has come up with a solution to our existential crisis!! She decided – like old King Solomon of yore – to split the disputed tint, so to speak. We can now all have a tint – but only 35 per cent!! Hosannahs are being sung about her sagacity – but your Eyewitness has his doubts as to how long this will survive!! After all, there’s the question of enforcement – which torpedoed previous efforts, no?? Are the Police gonna be walking with tint guns along with their speed guns??
Are they gonna turn a “tinted” eye at some??

…old ties
Well, how about that??!! Two ships carrying FOUR MILLION BARRELS OF OIL from Guyana are headed to India – and will arrive there in January!! It used to be that ships came from India to Guyana full of human cargo for seventy-nine years between 1838 and 1917. Deposited over 300,000 of us here to build this country. But today, oil – which was deposited off our shores millions of years ago – will now make the opposite run.
India, of course, ain’t doing us no favours, and in fact we may be doing some for them!! Two sources they’ve tapped because the oil was dirt cheap on account of American sanctions – Russia and Venezuela – are now off the table because of Trump’s hard-line tariffs!! However, with this being Guyana, you can bet your bottom dollar these sales to India are gonna be scrutinised closer than our gold exports to the Middle East!! So the Government can do worse than announce the sales price and all that!!
Pronto!!

…new dispensation
The question’s been raised whether Ralph Gonsalves – now booted out of office – remains an “interlocutor” between Maduro and us in the Argyle Agreement!! A better question is whether Ralphie can “interlocute” an exile for his pal Maduro in St Lucia!!