Contrary to Mr. Persaud, Baracara is run-down, depressed and underdeveloped

Mar 29, 2009 Letters

Dear Editor,
Whether or not Guyana Chronicle letter writer Yogeshwar Persaud exists or not isn’t my business. However, this individual’s letter in Monday’s (23-03-2009) edition titled “Upset at Corbin’s statement on Baracara” is most ludicrous.
For the record, I wish to say that I was fortunate to visit Baracara, located some 50-60 miles up the Canje River/Creek.
And I had the opportunity to interact and mingle with residents of the riverain community.
The community is nothing but one which is run-down, depressed, underdeveloped and forgotten one — forgotten by the authorities.

Last year was one of the first times in a long time that a Minister of the Government visited the area to share out seeds in the Grow More Campaign.
Residents of Baracara related to me that they do not have: a postal service, neither potable water, an effective and vibrant healthcare service, a resident doctor nor a midwife/nurse, police protection. They feel excommunicated from areas on the coast.
Mr. Persaud or whoever penned the letter boasted about the “proud investments by the administration” in Berbice and mentioned the usual clichés namely the Skeldon white elephant factory and the Berbice River Bridge.

The entire letter was in defence of Government’s focus towards residents in Baracara, yet not one word in the letter described anything Government has done directly for Baracara — not one.
I would also like to make mention that, on the following morning, after my report on Baracara on DTV-8 was aired and I had made mention that the residents had called on Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo to visit this community, as he had never done so in the past, I received a telephone call from a former Guyana Electricity Corporation top employee who now resides on the Corentyne.
The individual’s name and number were displayed on my Caller’s ID, and they spoke with a very deep British accent, which was as fake and artificial as British accents come.

They lambasted me and my report on the newscast about my mention of “anti-government” statements about the state of Baracara. Imagine, within the entire report, which was really a tourism feature on beautiful Baracara, this die-heard PPP loyalist sought to have me corrected on who dug the Torani Canal.
They asked me if I wasn’t aware that the Torani Canal was dug by the PPP and not the Burnham PNC Government as I had reported. The truth hurts, right? Somehow, this obvious ‘suck up’ government supporter felt that he needed to put on a fake British accent and become verbal with me over the telephone, something which he never accomplished anyway, because I hung up the phone.
With all being said, I feel frightened for this community and its vulnerability in being so far away from any form of civilisation and so far from the basic amenities that we on the coast think we enjoy.
Leon Jameson Suseran