Category: Eyewitness

…SOCU and SARU After seven months of going after the “bad guys” – the People’s Progressive Party…who else? – facts are just starting to come out that there is a mindset unfortunately justifying the worst fears of those who saw a “militarised” Government taking shape after May 11. It all had to do with the operation that played out last week in one of the old-time, premier housing areas of the country – Kingston. First we learnt that three people died – in a “Carifesta Ave smash up”. A Guyana…

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…on border Ralph Ramkarran reminded the new US Ambassador about their role on the border controversy, which Venezuela’s been hanging over our heads like the sword of that Damocles Greek fella. And we know what’s happening to Greece! Ramkarran being Ramkarran, played it safe. He gave a good historical account of the US fin de siècle role back in 1899, when that country was still feeling it’s oats against its old colonial master Britain. Taking the burdens of its Monroe Doctrine seriously (ironically patterned on Britain’s earlier “white man’s burden”…

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…for Bridge Investors? The saga of the Berbice Bridge continues…all brought about, let us not forget because some politicians (the AFC to be precise) wanted to scrape up some votes from Berbice. This is a point that everyone conveniently overlooks nowadays. They look at the nominal charge on the Demerara Harbour Bridge…and exclaim – “Hey!! The folks in Berbice deserve a break!” But the Demerara Bridge – even though it has twice the traffic of the Berbice Bridge at least – is tremendously subsidised to the tune of at least…

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…on “national unity” It’s been 4 months since the election. In that time one of the most partisan agendas in the history of this country was launched – but suddenly “national unity” is in the air! What’s this? The “stick and the carrot” approach? For sure there’s been a whole lotta “sticks” – in and out of Parliament. In Parliament the law’s been amended to have the Government retake leadership of the Committees they’d awarded to themselves when THEY were the Opposition. The PPPC Opposition is now expected to become…

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…in Berbice? Seems that this Berbice Bridge issue just won’t go away. So your loyal Eyewitness thought he’d have a stab at understanding what the heck’s going on. As CN Sharma used to say, there always three sides to any story: your side, their side and the truth. First off the bat, there’s the government side. Without taking “lee from license” they announced to their Berbice supporters that they were going to reduce the tolls from the Bridge “significantly”. Why?? Duh!! Why do politicians make promises? To get votes, silly!!…

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…for Berbice We are witnessing an interesting development in Guyanese politics and governance – the fissioning of the nation for the expedience of getting a few more votes. PRIME Minister Moses Nagamootoo went down to his home village of Whim, with his fellow Whimsian Ramayya and Ramjattan, originally from up the road at 48 Village. This Eyewitness isn’t going to comment on the crowd bussed in and the pickets that greeted him: he found Nagamootoo’s reaction more interesting. After hearing all the complaints of the neglect and alienation of Berbicians…

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…and PANTY coalition Well, mouth open and story had to jump out sooner rather than later on the pre-nuptial talks between PNC/APNU and AFC. The six-week deadline for their talks are up and only now we’re learning that AFC’s demanding that all the proposals, etc should be “SECRET”. That’s right. They don’t want anyone…including (and maybe ESPECIALLY their supporters) to know what they’re proposing or accepting from the PNC/APNU. These are the same fellas who’re all over the Government like a cheap suit for being “secretive” when Government officials are…

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…on Ramkarran’s (pin) head Back in medieval Europe, before the triumph of reason and the scientific revolution, the fellas (and they were ALL fellas) considered to be the top “intellectuals” spent their days debating the metaphysics of their theology. Thomas Aquinas was one of these “scholars” – they’re collectively dubbed “the scholastics” – and he pondered such deep and pressing questions as “how many angels could dance on the tip of a pin without jostling each other”. Really!!! Scholasticism, not surprisingly, became a metaphor for pointless debate and discussion. If…

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…in CPL final This Eyewitness never made it a secret that he’s an avid (even a rabid) fan of the Guyana Amazon Warriors – henceforth the “Warriors”. So when he screams “we wuz robbed!!!!” in the CPL finals, he knows there’ll be the issue of being an “interested party”. But he’ll preface his statements with this caution that’s guided him since he was a stripling. It’s from Dr No. When a thing happened the first time it’s “happenstance”; a second time, “coincidence” but when for the third time – its…

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…in sugar As old Charles Dickens complained, the best of times can also be the worst of times. And as we look at the situation in the sugar sector, Dickens could very well be speaking about us here in Guyana. After languishing in the doldrums for years, the world market price for sugar headed for the skies – and then stayed there for the past five years or so. So you’d think our folks in sugar would be dancing in the streets, after their “profit sharing” and higher salaries, wouldn’t…

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