The darkness and the light

Jul 22, 2012 Features / Columnists, My Column

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In the midst of all the troubles there is always a bright star. Linden is in the midst of a crisis that was in the making for a long time. For starters, the young people had little or nothing to look forward to in the region. Those who were academically inclined could become teachers or clerks. A few could become the prized acquisition of some of the business places in the region, but they are so few.
Very few are being trained to become entrepreneurs simply because there are not too many openings for the entrepreneurs. In some communities where money is not at a premium, it makes no sense for people to set up businesses. There will be too many sellers and few buyers.
But the Burnham administration did seek to introduce entrepreneurial activities to the people of Linden. I remember when the late Ptolemy Reid set about getting some people to start a charcoal briquetting industry. There was a demand for the briquettes and some people actually started the project.
But it was hard work, too hard for some who did not have the wherewithal to secure the international markets. That project died a natural death at the same time the new government opened timber concessions. The gold rush did not help.
I would have expected Linden to be the hive of the poultry industry. Being strategically poised at the gateway to the interior, any such industry would have taken off beyond the wildest imagination. Indeed there are people who are trying, but there are circumstances that weigh against them. They seem incapable of attracting the kind of money that would cushion them from the external shocks.
The bauxite industry was the hub and it provided employment for the vast majority. It still is, but it is not employing the numbers as in days gone by.
The houses in Mackenzie and Wismar tell the story of a community that is stagnated. Many have not had a coat of paint for years, simply because the owners cannot afford. Against that background the government announced that it was cutting the subsidy for electricity. With hardly any money coming in no one would welcome an additional expenditure, hence the protests.
The best bet would have been to give the people ample notice. Instead, the announcement came almost as soon as the opposition cut the budget. The result was that the people believed that the hike in electricity rates was a reaction to the opposition action. That too is understandable.
Today, what started as a protest has degenerated into naked criminal activities. Elements are robbing and looting. There has been destruction of property.  Trucks have been set alight as was a building owned by the bauxite company, the latter a reaction to the shooting to death of three protesters.
I am still at a loss for a reason to explain why the police would use live rounds. I would expect that after the shooting in the city the police would have gone into training in crowd control. Guyanese are not known to deliberately attack the police. No policeman could say that his life was threatened.
Behind every protest there are the criminal elements and these have come to the fore. People who supported the protest are now afraid of what has emerged, and once out of the bottle, it is difficult to get it back in. The elements have turned against the very people who are affected by the electricity hike.
It will not be long before the police and the other security forces become angry at what is happening. They are familiar with what happened in Buxton and they simply do not want a similar situation. They are going to nip it in the bud. There have already been arrests, and if the situation does not change, there may be more shootings. This time though, the sympathy at the shooting casualties may not be as profound.
The political leaders must now intervene. They must forget about using the kid gloves when dealing with the disruptive elements. They have been going to Linden, but I suspect that they are allowing the elements to control them.
On Friday these elements began threatening the reporters who have been bringing the situation to the outside world. That is a no no. I know that they do not want their nefarious activities highlighted. Things have reached the stage where the communities are about to be in darkness because fuel is not reaching the power station.
Food is going to become scarcer and before long the situation would get even more chaotic. But amidst this chaos there has been something bright. A child was born. This birth occurred across the Atlantic, but the very life of the baby is rooted in this country.
The grandparents flew out of the country to be in the United States for its arrival because the baby represents their first grandchild. It is here that I smiled. The belief that being a grandparent puts an individual into the category of old people is always there.
My ex-wife was 41 when she became a grandmother and she could not handle the shock at first. She refused to be called a grandmother. I was happy to be a grandfather. I was 45.
The baby’s grandfather is at the crossroads. He keeps telling me that he is not old but I insist on calling him Gramps. “Hey Grandfather. Congratulations.”
Who is he? Glenn Lall, the publisher of Kaieteur News. His first grandchild is a girl who arrived at 2:37pm on July 20, 2012.

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