For those who harbour doubts about whether the PPP Government cares, I think that they should think again. The president cares. The very honorable minister of education cares. The PPP Government cares, which is worth saying again. Permit me to share this care, and how much of it there is. There is the upcoming ‘Because We Care’ Cash Grant (BWC).
I first saw the commercials in KN on Thursday, May 8. A later scan of SN’s edition for the same date revealed the same happy news, happier faces, and the happiest face of all, PPP Government leaders. The advertising collection managers at the local newspapers must be part of the happiness also. There were six separate ads for the BWC cash grant. Yes folks, six of them, that’s no typo. Being the popular fellow that he is, Excellency Ali had four pictures of himself in the six ads. The hon minister showed that she was no slouch in the marketing of self (like the president) with two broadly beaming pictures of her own.
I am still surprised that the layout people at SN and KN were able to fit those smiley faces and figures in the spaces that they did. Both the president and the minister were slick enough, and are seasoned enough, not to stick their mugs in the ads informing eligible Guyanese of IDs and authorisations, and so forth. Too bland, too lacking in children, so a picture is a horrible thing to waste in such conditions.
I congratulate the leader and minister in taking no chances, and ensuring that they both had the right blend of demographics, graphics, and optics. When the government is on top of things, it is on top of things. And there is nothing better than six ads on the same day in the same newspapers mentioned, and highly likely in all the rest that don’t count in my library, to get the mind going.
Don’t forget the calculators, too. For there it was, 55 large ones. And per child, also. I know the Roman Catholic Church just got a new Pope, but even he would hesitate to announce Christmas in May. It is a merry month this May is turning out to be. But now I must be the bad guy and spoil the baby party. The government is tricky.
To repeat: in four out of those six ads, there was a smiling, leaning, hugging, chuckling, all but gyrating and cartwheeling Pres. Ali. This gent is a real attention, ah, I settle for, hero. Guyanese should understand why there is so much admiration for number one. The hon minister was less vain, and more subdued, only two BWC pictures.
Men might be the stronger sex. Women prove they are the smarter one. But six ads in colour complete with color photos of the president and minister serve as intoxicants and accelerants. If I were a shade sluggish, the belief would be that the $55,000 coming out of their pockets. A little less weight there would make them more mobile, no question.
But I held off for as long as I could before introducing the sinister in all the ads, all these laughing, rocking and rolling pictures. Flood the ads with children and politics, and guess what? That other child that was lost and then found, and has since opened a Pandora’s box of woes for the PPP Government is being shoved off the nation’s radar. Six ads and all about children and how much the government cares are slick gimmicks in a time of grim developments.
Get away from the damaging and alarming by distracting and soothing parents and kiddies with announcements about the $55,000 BWC cash grant. It is taking caring to an ever-ascending elevation. When I tell people how magnificent the PPP Govt’s propaganda machinery is, they respond disagreeably. But name another Guyanese group that could (and would) compose such strokes of genius?
I could absorb 1-2 ads for info purposes. But, given the grief-strewn times, the PPP brain trust decided that some jolliness was needed, to lighten the atmosphere. There is none who can be jollier than Excellency Ali. Give him a hat and a vehicle, and he is off to the moon at supersonic speeds.
Tens of thousands of Guyanese children are $55000 richer. At the same time, the PPP Government believes that it succeeded in making the memory of Adrianna Younge much dimmer. Perish the thought Mr. Ali, Guyanese may be slower out of the gates, but they are not yet that much of a sucker.
Still, I give credit where it is due. A nice try with the Because We Care propaganda deluge. The cosmetics and politics were both unmistakable amid the economics of education, and against the haunting backdrop of the tragic that came out of that place called Tuschen.
