In Guyana there was a time when people mimicked their neighbours. That was a talking point at one time. People would see their neighbour with something and seek to get it. Talk was that if a woman saw her neighbour with new blinds, bet your last dollar that she had to get new blinds.
It mattered not whether there was food in the house. Appearance was all that mattered.
Many husbands spent sleepless hours because of their wives’ torment. It was the same with dress. People tried to out dress each other. The noise nuisance grew out of one neighbor trying to prove that his music set had more power than the other.
In today’s world, women try to outdo or at least to emulate each other. Each tries to prove to the other that each is better maintained. And so one hears the talk about a woman having a man for every occasion. The person looking on would describe such women as loose.
Guyana, under the present conditions, would be considered a loose woman. It is trying to emulate the United States in every possible area. When the political opposition criticized the quality of construction works the government ignored those criticisms.
But when Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticized the quality of the Heroes Highway the government immediately announced that it would improve the quality of the road surface by laying another layer of asphalt. The voice of the foreigner to some is like the be all and end all.
Of course, the government is going further; it is expanding the highway a mere two years after it was officially opened. And since the United States has an array of road networks so too is Guyana pursuing an array of road networks.
Was it coincidence that President Irfaan Ali dressed like President Donald Trump, right down to the red tie?
In a democracy, such road projects would see the people being employed and the national wealth being distributed. The late Dr Kenneth King, as Economic Adviser, had such an idea way back in the 1970s. He saw Guyana picking up itself by the bootstraps and moving ahead.
But this government in pursuit of the dream to emulate the United States simply invites friends, families and favorites, as A Partnership for National Unity describes the cronies of the government. These people bring their own workforce.
If this sounds farfetched one only needs to reflect on the construction of the Marriott Hotel in Georgetown. The contract was offered to a Chinese company which in turn brought in its labour force. Not a single Guyanese gained employment on that project.
Guyanese companies got jobs transporting building material. That was all.
There was no construction job on the Marriott for the ordinary man. These went to the Chinese. Guyanese did not get a chance to enjoy transfer of knowledge. In other areas big jobs went to companies with the wherewithal and owned by supporters of the government.
The Marriott was not a one-off example. There were road construction projects granted to Trinidad companies. Large numbers of Trinidadians came to Guyana to work on these projects. This was facilitated by the CARICOM-agreed Free Movement of Skills.
There were other projects but unlike the United States that Guyana is trying to emulate, the contractors have the power to ignore the basic wages for certain skills. There is a standard pay for certain categories but when the contractors decline to pay to Guyanese what is required Guyanese simply refuse to work.
And unlike the United States that Guyana wants to emulate, there is a ready supply of the very skills but for so much cheaper. These are the immigrants, nearly all of whom are illegal. Like the illegal immigrants anywhere, they grab what they can get.
The government recently announced that it granted a few thousand work permits to the immigrants.
In Guyana, some people, despite their best efforts to achieve something, are being forced further into poverty. The most recent cases are those who set up residence at Friendship, East Bank Demerara.
The people claimed that the man who surveyed the more than 1000 acres of land has been able to acquire it. There was no consideration that some of the people being evicted had been living there for decades.
On Tuesday, heavily armed police and court marshals descended on the land to begin the forced eviction. The exercise was being conducted even as some people were at work. The occupiers were deemed to be squatting.
Most of them were Black people. The situation is reminiscent of Mocha, Amelia’s Ward in Linden, Soesdyke, Sarah Joanna and Hill Foot, Soesdyke.
Such demolitions always happen after elections. What is not clear is why the people are not given adequate notice. The people who occupy the land claim that they were given seven days’ notice. They said that they were not even invited to be part of the court proceedings.
It would appear at first glance that the land was state land that was sold to a private individual. People do not check the classified advertisements in the press and in any case with the press disappearing, they cannot afford subscriptions for the Official Gazette.
Given the housing situation, the rampant poverty level in the country—58 percent of the population—and the paucity of jobs, one must wonder whether a plan is not afoot to wipe out an entire race group in the country.
Without a doubt, lives would be disrupted. Children already under pressure to do well in school with near empty stomachs are now being asked to find new schools because they will certainly not be living in that community.
One is left to wonder at the role of the Housing Ministry under such conditions. The government has been known to intervene in some cases. Its silence on these occasions cannot be understood.
