Should we give praise to the Government for this one?

Aug 17, 2008 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

By the time you read this column, you may have noticed that Carifesta Avenue is showing off street lamps. I guess better late than never. Should we sing praise to the Government for this?

Before we answer that let us look at two benefits the PPP Government brought to this nation. One occurred early in the nineties, the other last year.

The PPP Government gave house lots to the poorer folks but the package had a distasteful side to it, especially in Sophia.

The land was very low, there were no lights, no roads and the rains made life miserable for these folks. My nephew was awarded a plot in Sophia and we went to see it one afternoon. What I saw was an insult and I advised my nephew to reject it with immediate haste.

There was absolutely no way anyone could have built a home there because no vehicle could have traversed the land. It was lying in the middle of a swamp.

A few months ago, I went to a Sophia resident to buy plants and I noticed that the eyesore is still there. What the Guyana Government did was to give people land just for the sake of saying we gave you a gift. It was an empty box just wrapped with ribbons.

In contrast there is Eccles Gardens. I had a tempestuous argument with Ms. Sadie Amin of the women’s arm of the PPP who lives there.

The Eccles Housing Scheme had two parts –high income for $800,000 and low earners for $200,000. The high income estate was fitted out with drainage, street lights and expensive roads.

The low earners were virtually thrown on a piece of dirt. Ms. Amin and I had a strong disagreement about the hypocrisy of the PPP, including Cheddi Jagan when they claim they are communist.

I pointed to the wealthy classes that were sold prime real estate by the PPP Government in Eccles Gardens and were provided with modern infrastructure while the labouring masses were neglected.

Her rebuttal was that the $800,000 included the cost to set up that infrastructure. The poorer folks got their plots cheaper.

I didn’t buy that argument because the low income people in the Eccles area were not given the option of paying for roads and lights.

My rejoinder was that if they were asked for a higher sum so they could walk on asphalt rather than in mud then they probably would have agreed to pay.

Visit the low income section of the Eccles Housing Scheme and if your car survives the journey on the muddy tracks then it is not a car but an armoured vehicle.

Those Guyanese wherever they live abroad who support the PPP because it is, for them, a working class party should visit the Eccles Housing Scheme.

It is the largest testimony to date that these people, far from being interested in the elevation of the masses, actually are their enemies. Eccles Housing Scheme reminds you of certain places in the United States.

You would find a fancy suburb with manicured lawns and super-wealthy houses, and just one street separates this paradise from an inner city ghetto.

Then there are the streets lights. Again; better late than never. We should all bow in honour of the government that provided these lights. For years we had none.

But shamefully, they are not working. Why should a citizen be thankful for a service that exists in name only?

I travel in Georgetown at least three times daily. I have to pass at least 14 sets of traffic lights on my routine. I honestly have never seen five of them working. Ironically, and most exasperatingly, they malfunction at the most frightening junctions in Georgetown.

I say most unapologetically that on a daily basis eighty percent of the newly installed traffic lights do not work. Why should citizens be grateful for this caricature?

Perhaps a good analogy is a victim of rape. The attacker then drove her to a lighted spot and threw her off.

She should not report him to the police because after all, he could have left her to the wolves in the deserted spot where he took her in the first place.

We return to the lamps on Carifesta Avenue. I recall doing an article in which I opined that once there are international events here, we will get modern conveniences. I was right.

Carifesta comes to town, and so the street named after it was fitted out with lights on Thursday. Should we, the citizens be thankful? Why in August 2008 and not before? Suppose there wasn’t Carifesta.

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