Set up…

…in Parliament

It was going to be like that shootout scene in the old Clint Eastwood spaghetti western between “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” There, it was three gunslingers vying for a gold cache, but here in Guyana, it was going to be the AFC (the Ugly) teaming up with the PPP (the Good) versus the PNC/APNU (the Bad) to capture the government in 2020.

All three of them were going to shoot their wad in Parliament last Thursday on the hot topic of VAT on private education. Like in the movie, the Ugly, AFC, was acting purely out of self-interest. Ever since they sold out their constituency back in 2015, they’d gradually been exposed as the doormats they’d always been for the PNC/APNU. As “dead meat”, they were beginning to smell.

Their supporters out in the boons had long gone back home to the PPP. They didn’t need the latter to “open their eyes” to anything. The Government’s ham-handedness took care of that: closing sugar estates right, left and centre; and promising and never delivering rice markets to Mexico didn’t exactly endear the 11% to the AFC’s leadership. But the middle-class ones in “town” were champing at the bit, and these were the ones who’ve contributed both money and manpower.

They had to do something – and quickly. The latter group were getting their knickers all into knots over the Government’s imposition of VAT on private school education, and had a brainwave. It wasn’t just the money, the townies said. The fact that most of them were fat cats coming out was just a coincidence!! It was the PRINCIPLE!! Education would set us free, and how dare it be taxed?? It was so “Developed World-ish”!!! From the looks of it, the brainwave probably came from Khemraj Ramjattan, who’d also come up with a 2am curfew to solve crime in Guyana!!

Anyhow, the AFC announced they were now against VAT on education – which the PPP had declared from the beginning, and in fact had introduced a motion in the National Assembly to abolish same. The AFC were signalling to their “town constituency” that they were going to follow Spike Lee’s advice and “do the right thing”. So here it was that the entire country waited with bated breath: would the AFC vote with the PPP and defeat the big, bad PNC/APNU??

Alas!! A funny thing happened on the way to the debate on VAT on private education: it never happened!! The Speaker disallowed the PPP motion, and the AFC dodged the VAT bullet. They didn’t have to put their votes where their mouths were, and risk their doormats’ status!!

What?? OF COURSE it was a set-up!!

…the monkey on the official’s back

There’s the old expression to “have a monkey on one’s back”, which means “to have an addiction”. Presumably, it brought home the burdens of being addicted – especially to drugs. We also have the expression “feeding the monkey” coming from the same situation. In Guyana – while there have been several nationwide programmes warning Guyanese of the dangers of drug addiction – somehow, recent events suggest that those efforts might’ve just rolled off officialdom’s backs.

What brings on this thought is the sad, sad story of that PNC Councillor being addicted to Pethidine. But even more alarming than a public official engaging in ridiculous behaviour that’s now explainable is the official complicity to have the lady feed her habit rather than getting her help. And help is there. By sheer coincidence, the Chronic’s article by the GPHC’s resident psychologist was about dealing with drug addiction.

Like Noel Blackman in the US, the doctor who’s been prescribing the drug for the Councillor should be charged, convicted and jailed.

…on Indian Monument

Why’s it so difficult for the Ministry of Education to explain what went DOWN on the Indian Monument being installed at Palmyra?

But hold it – they’re backed up! They’re still working to explain the G$350M collected for Jubilee Park in 2015!