Which one you will more find in Guyana: Crocodile Dundees or crocodile tears?

May 28, 2009 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

There aren’t many Crocodile Dundees in the Guyana Government. I doubt there is any. Courage is not a quality the PPP leadership is noted for. This explains why people hide under their mothers’ dresses and full up the Chronicle letter pages with fictitious names. For sure there isn’t a single Crocodile Dundee in the PPP Government because as soon as “you know what” hits the fan, no leader has the courage to face the press.
For six weeks, this nation was waiting for a Crocodile Dundee to come forward and tell us why NBS bought out CLICO’s Berbice Bridge shares from a company that was swimming in bankruptcy waters; and who were the persons that were reimbursed by CLICO.
Croc Dundee didn’t show and hasn’t turned up yet. Try as hard as you can, you aren’t going to find Crocodile Dundees in the corridors of power. If you go by the Kingston seawall, you will see what has replaced the Marriot Hotel dream of you know who? The land that was cleared for the hotel after the Government Analyst building was demolished, is now a graveyard for shipping containers.
I stood and watched at this wasteland and buried underneath it is a wasted legacy. A legacy of, you know who? If the PPP loses the 2011 elections, a lot of former powerful Mussolinis will be unable to face their nation and will be desperate to run. Shakespeare will become their Bible and we will hear the cry of King Richard: “A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse! (King Richard 111- Act 5, scene 4).
The relevance of the faded Marriot dream has to do with courage. No one had the boldness to come forward and tell the people of Guyana who the investors were that would have built this complex. No, there are no Crocodile Dundees in King Richard’s kingdom. But crocodile tears cover the monarchial territory of King Richard.
The Guyanese nation is told that contractors will be penalised for lack of performance. But the contractors’ patrons have not been performing long before the contractors were given their contracts.
So the World Cup Cricket boss ended up presiding over the country’s water and sewage facilities. Firing employees was more the show at GWI than providing the people of Georgetown with a functioning sewage system and the citizens of Guyana with a regular supply of water.
As my fingers move on the keyboard to produce this critique, my eyes stare at a pitiful sight on the front page of the Wednesday edition of the Stabroek News. Residents of Sophia flock to a pipe with buckets of all types to get some water.
The World Cup Cricket guy didn’t perform. Guess who insisted on his employment. Not those in charge of the Government of Guyana. Maybe it was Mr. Corbin or Mr. Trotman or even C.N. Sharma. The cricket guy couldn’t have been given his CEO job by the little Mussolinis because they would have resigned when he didn’t perform.
It was the morally right thing to do. It is not only the underlings that must pay the consequences of not producing but those who foisted them upon the nation.
Crocodile tears are running along the streets of Guyana deluging the land. Yes, the contractors have to be competent and deliver. Or else face the wrath of the little King Richards.
No wrath it faced when the little King Richards failed to deliver. As my fingers move on the keyboard while I compose this essay, I have in front of me in one of the dailies, the tragic story or permanent incompetence in Guyana. Guyana has lost six million euros because the document on our sugar action plan went into Brussels beyond the deadline. No matter how inefficient the poor contractors are, their neglect cannot cost the Treasury six million euros.
Gosh! That sum could have gone a long way in putting some street lights on the main arteries of the capital so visitors will know that we are part of the modern Caribbean.
But wait! It may not be the little King Richards who are to be blamed for the loss of six million euros. It may be the contractors. The little King Richards may have given the contractors the task of getting the document to the European officials in time.
And what about poor Joseph O’Lall? He was dismissed for not performing on the energy front thus causing us to get daily blackouts yet we are getting blackouts. O’Lall is dead but he spoke to me from the grave. He said he will give King Richard the horse.

Latest News

Which one you will more find in Guyana: Crocodile Dundees or crocodile tears?

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| March, 17th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

NSC, Office of the DPP to host Criminal Law and Sexual Offences Act...

Lucas Chung maintains strong standing at 2nd...

Farm Supplies Ltd. supports Bartica Regatta 2025

Legislation and Investment: Trinidad to Brazil,...

Three more matches billed for this weekend

CM Khan rules at 2025 National Blitz Chess...

Features/Columnists

“One Guyana” is no less a national slogan than “Green Guyana”

If Guyana’s President Ali is the “Zelensky of the Caribbean”, who is the Putin?

Partner v. investor

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

Which one you will more find in Guyana: Crocodile Dundees or crocodile tears?

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| March, 17th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]