…with the plan for culture
When Frank Anthony was PPP’s Minister of Culture, Ruel Johnson hounded him something fierce about “not doing anything on or for culture”. Anthony could do nothing right. Wasn’t a day that went by when Johnson wasn’t in the letters pages yapping at Anthony’s heels. If it wasn’t CARIFESTA, it was the Caribbean Press. Or why wasn’t HE, Johnson, a member of a delegation getting a free trip to Suriname.
Well, Johnson’s been the Culture Czar for over a year. He’s certainly been getting enough free trips to here, there and everywhere! The man has crossed the seven seas and hopped across five continents! Right now he’s lolling on some beach in Barbados! You hardly hear from him any longer. What was it that our real man of words, Martin Carter said about mouths being muzzled? Had something to do with being fed…and nobody’s being better fed than Johnson!
But the question is – where’s the plan he’s been working on for culture for the new Administration? He’s making his Minister look real bad. And gosh knows she’s had enough flack – much of it not of her making. But his failure’s also placing a lot of pressure on Prezzie who’d come out and made “Social Cohesion” the main plank of his Administration. And it makes sense, doesn’t it?
Unless you get this country back together so that it can pull together, how are we ever gonna get the economy back on track? And what gets people together like culture? In fact if it weren’t for culture, we’d be living in old Thomas Hobbes “State of Nature”. And that was no Eden! Johnson was supposed to have held some “consultations” to craft the culture plan he’d convinced the government he could deliver. But like the old conundrum that asked whether the tree fell in the middle of the forest if no one heard it…were any consultations held when no one’s seen head nor hair of a report on them?
Last weekend, there was supposed to be a conclave about cultural industries. Your Eyewitness understands Johnson was there and we hope he took some notes. In addition to providing the glue that forms the “social” in “social cohesion”, culture also creates tangible and intangible products that can bring big bucks into the country. So, after criticising Anthony about the Caribbean Press…what has Johnson done about using it to publish books by all the talent he’d spoken about in Guyana? Or the music? Or dance? Or film? Or painting?
But old people do say that “Moutar different from guitar”. And Ruel Johnson’s all Moutar!!
… to deliver the forensic lab
When he was in the Opposition, Khemraj Ramjattan really did a number on Clement Rohee for not delivering the goods in the fight against crime. One area he honed in on was the lack of an operational Forensics Lab after spending a billion dollars. Becoming Minister of Public Security, Ramjattan on June 27, 2015, explained he had to have exhibits “preserved and having the integrity so that when it goes to court, there will be no falsifications and that they lead to no wrongful acquittals or wrongful convictions.” In other words, the AC and refrigeration had to work properly.
Exactly a year later on June 27, 2016, asked about the Forensic Lab, guess how Ramjattan explained why the Lab still wasn’t operational: “If there were any problems with record keeping or the quality of evidence, then defence counsel could tear the prosecution’s case apart.” In other words, Ramjattan hasn’t even been able to get the AC fixed!!
What a difference a year DOESN’T make!!
…who’ll bring home the cricket bacon?
Well, the 2016 Hero CPL T20 Tournament kicked off last night over in Trinidad! Here and now, your Eyewitness is making his prediction: it’s the Guyana Amazon WARRIORS all the way!!
And he’s ready to put his money where his mouth is!
