Dear Editor,
The sudden closure of the sugar estates in Berbice highlighted many areas of concern. Some of those are as follows:
The sudden closure of the sugar estates in Berbice to those affected was a kind of hatred or vengeance, because it is known that these people are a major support block of the PPP/C. They felt hated and betrayed, especially from the AFC faction of the coalition. The fact that not even Government officials or AFC leaders in the Region Six area were informed was quite disheartening.
Mr. Charrandas Persaud knew of this development only from the newspapers. His life was later threatened, and that later led him to find a way to exact vengeance on the APNU+AFC.
As for the few seats gained by the coalition through the AFC, Moses Nagamootoo and Khemraj Ramjattan caused the supporters of the AFC in the region to regret that they had ever voted for a party that had little power in the coalition.
There was no plan in place to educate people on alternative occupations. The fact remains that there was no medium developed to provide reasonable plots of land for independence and/or prior education in the principles of cooperation.
These workers were annoyed because they had to fight to get their severance. Please note, severance is very different from compensation. Severance is what they had earned; compensation, or a gift, would have demonstrated gratitude for their decades of service to the industry that kept this country alive and well.
It is a fact that after taking power, the Government abandoned the rice farmers. Instead of getting the price hikes that were promised, they were left with the millers, with the need to find their own markets.
Sugar workers and rice farmers believed they were being exploited by the AFC, and deceived by the coalition. They were left to wander in the wilderness in depression and suffering, in suicides and darkness. No effort was made to include depression counselling or grant scholarships to the children of these workers.
I wrote in the media that the industry should be kept alive before the factories and the fields deteriorate, carbonise, and be sold off to convert these lands, or part thereof, to rear cattle for dairy and meat. Black belly sheep, a delicacy in the world, could have been reared; or fish could have been produced using the canals that were cleverly built by the British colonial masters. With the support of friendly countries such as Holland, Australia, New Zealand, we could have started manufacturing canned, condensed, and evaporated milk products for local and foreign consumption. But your Government at that time did not see what people like me saw. If the Government did not want to be involved in these productions, it could have provided the necessary support and trade with the people to make these products. The factories that were left to rot could still have produced some sugar, with alternative goods stated in the aforementioned. The factory, one or part thereof, could have been used to dehydrate fruits and vegetables. Canning of fruit and vegetables and, as I said earlier, canning of meat in a number of ways. This also include canning of fish products while at the same time complying with the regulations of the USA and the Europeans, so that we can export frozen or processed fish, such as tilapia, catfish, and armored catfish, aka hassar.
Infrastructure
Your Government has forgotten that infrastructure such as roads and canals are important not only in the areas of its supporters, but for all of Guyana.
Indigenous peoples
It is known that the Indigenous Peoples were and are the most discriminated, exploited, and abused by the Conquistadors and left to wander with little support from the various governments, in particular the APNU+AFC coalition. Hundreds of them were terminated from their jobs when your Government took office in 2015. The backlash was seen in the 2020 elections by the Indigenous Community against the APNU+AFC coalition. The last-minute attempts at bribery were seen for what they were.
I know it is a very painful time for the APNU+AFC camp, and I have always said openly that I have friends in both the PPP/C and the PNC. And everybody knows that even if I disagree with a point of view and/or a political entity, my ethos, moral upbringing, and my spiritual compunction would always be just for all institutions and others. I will always be impartial and fair, whether I disagree or agree with a certain point. I have no bias towards a particular institution, and I speak about what I see is right and true. As my Creator states in the Holy Quran: “O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm in justice, witnesses for Allah, even if it be against yourselves or parents and relatives. Whether one is rich or poor, Allah is more worthy of both. So follow not (personal) inclination, lest you not be just. And if you distort (your testimony) or refuse (to give it), then indeed Allah is ever with what you do, Acquainted.” (Quran 4:135)
Of course, some weak-minded political adherents would think I do not like their party. If anything, I simply have little respect for the AFC, but even if I have to sit as an authority to judge something – for or against them – it would always be a matter of compunctions of true justice.
My message to you, to the coalition, to all politicians, to all humanity, but firstly to myself, is that our successes or our failures come from our own minds. Eventually, the seeds you plant will bear fruit, or not. Either you could not get fruits because the seeds did not grow, or you got fruits but they were bitter and useless; or you got fruits that were succulent, wholesome and nutritious.
I write this in the form of intellectual metaphorical wisdom. From the moment the coalition took office, you started to put things in place to secure yourselves. You, the coalition, began at GECOM when you were obviously trying to put who you wanted in office. You eliminated people who were qualified for political appointments. One could have seen that your plans were for manipulation.
Instead of offering service to the people and winning the hearts and minds of the people, you began to fortify the compound of the Ministry of the Presidency and fortify it as if you wanted to keep revolutionary fighters away. Too many people were terminated, and then you started to disaffect some of the people you suspected might not have been on your side — people who were independent mostly, and who made independent comments and spoke fairly. So, in my opinion, you planted these seeds of desperation, and everything you did was as if you were trying to use the situation, including the political parties.
My point is that we, as human beings, are creating our destiny through our thoughts and our hearts. If the intent of the heart is good, then things turn out to be good. But when you try to fortify yourself and put yourself in a clandestine way, people will know, and then the universe knows, then Divine retribution is effected by the universe.
As you tried to affect and conspire to disaffect others, you were actually conspiring against yourselves. This is a simple procedure to teach us that we are the creators of our own futures. So do, please, blame yourselves for the loss of the 2020 elections.
