The cash grant is on, that’s for sure. Whether $200,000, or $100,000, or some later fraction of that, because both Excellency Ali said so, and Dr. Jagdeo said so, then it is so. For when these two glorious Notrth Korean leaders masquerading as Guyanese ones can turn up at a national holiday, a sacred religious one, and cup emblems of truth in their palms, then no man or woman in this country should disbelieve them. Incidentally, I like that epiphany: cup and palms. My, my…. Believe them, I do; it is just a matter of when the moolah will start flowing. And depending on who is where. It is why I think that a few Guyanese are wrongly focused and arriving at the wrong place.
Th first thing that observant Guyanese must do is discard economic logic relative to the hundred grand. Second, let us all agree that this is less about of cost of living relief. Third, whether there is harmony or Freedom House antics, the hundred large is an elections subsidy and not a temporary price remedy. I had said so before, repeat one more time, and it is why the matter of timing is so, ahm, sensitive. Elaboration follows.
Economic logic: sellers are waiting for the cash rollout, waiting to pounce. Also, please stop talking about paying US$500 to travel from Uncle Sam to collect US$00 from Uncles Ali and Barry. Despite all this uncle business, I am not Glenn Lall. Hence, do not thing in such clean, straight lines. Think like bhai Bhar-rat. Pay for the plane ticket, so that a good time is had with family and friends, and only a few hours have to be donated to voting. C’mon people, the man is showing that he cares, with that airline/elections subsidy, what else is wanted? The PPP to fund the rum and gilbaka, too? The timing is of the essence, as my dear fellow socializer, AG Anil Nandlall, would be sure to say. Give the people the US$500 now, and they will not come back to exercise the franchise in June. Gosh, I am beginning to sound like the fried chicken man (franchise). This is where that App has to do its part. It will take some time to get the foreign feature debugged. Remember: forget about economic logic; deal in Jagdeo elections logic (and logistics). To wrap up this first point, the natives should be the first recipients, the saltwater Yankees are next, while elections are somewhere in the neighborhood. Locals are captive, as in the bag; the diaspora calls for some smoother management. Prediction: elections by Q2 next year. The App would be functioning just fine to reel in the foreign fishes and whatever else is fishy about this whole setup.
Next, to put kindly, I rarely listen to Excellency Ali. Because when fantasy or entertainment is needed, there is always the comics, or that fictional British comedy show: Yes, Prime Minister. For the uninitiated in Guyana, sub president for PM, and it is a mirror of what does on here in the PPP Government. I say this because the $100K could not have been about listening to the wails of men and women and responding with $100,000 as cost of living amelioration. If that sounds like something that PPP pundits would use, it is. For four years came and went, and neither President Dr. Ali nor the other one listened. They spoke impatiently, then angrily. Look at how much was done. Hail Ali! Then infrastructure to make access easier, goods cheaper. Then, subsidies to farmers (in reality, the first elections cash downpayments). Then more, then there…what else do dese peeple want? Now I have my own type of ‘then’: what is going to happen when the $100,000 is done and prices are now higher than before? The vice president, being a man for all contingences, reassured Guyanese that there will be more money coming. Somebody tried that with me once, through a sale of the World Trade Center. So that all Guyana get the message -after it was destroyed. So, when I hear Mistah Jagdeo speaking brightly about more cash coming later to citizens, the questions are simple. When, who, where, and in what amounts, my lord and master? A cash handout to sugar doesn’t sweeten other Guyanese tea. Or life. One to farmers do not bring down prices. But the record will be of cash handouts. Speaking to myself, is the GY$60 billion in the system currently or soon enough? Is that why there is shillyshallying on distribution, with some mysterious App being made the scapegoat. I know that Daktah Jagdeo speaks from both sides of his mouth. but I don’t believe that he talks with a lisp. Did he mean asp and not app? The former is a snake and look at what it did to Mark Antony and Cleopatra and, by extension, the Roman Empire. That may be so, but even on his baddest day, Jagdeo will never bite Guyanese with such finality. Who then will be alive to vote for him besides me?
So, to my fellow PPP and PNC voters (yes, I am all things to all people), by process of reasoning, elections logic trumps economic logic. Just check with Dr. Jagdeo.
