Rape on romantic waters

Sep 11, 2009 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Walking on the Demerara Harbour Bridge (the cheap, ugly Berbice Bridge does not have a pedestrian walkway; the Takutu Bride has one; it is stupid to build a bridge without a walkway) on a tropical night with the millions of stars gazing upon the Demerara River is a penetrating, little romantic affair. The lights on the river merge with its ripples creating an aesthetic canopy that with the right kind of Johnny Mathis music in your ear can make you feel that Guyana is such an enchanting niche.
On Wednesday evening, a female Guyanese citizen wanted to taste that little sparkle that Guyana offers by perambulating the Demerara Harbour Bridge. She started out from the West Bank end of the bridge, and with her iPod on her head and the moon above, a Kafkaesque nemesis showed its ugly presence and rudely attempted to destroy her future. The routine that all Guyanese have grown accustomed to since 1980, descended upon the Demerara Harbour Bridge – blackout. With discomfort in her mind, she headed back for home. But it was too late. The GPL disaster, the Government of Guyana disaster intervened and kept her prisoner on the bridge. A rapist emerged from the Macbethian darkness of the night and attempted to ravage her. She fought back and his last resort was to kill her. He threw her in the river; she couldn’t swim but lady Luck showed her a pathway to life. She clung to one of the pontoons until rescue came.
I don’t know this lady. I just read about her ordeal in the Kaieteur News. If she sees this page of the KN, I would ask her to make contact with me. My reason is to try to persuade her to join me and thousands of others during the election campaign in 2011 to prevent the PPP and its presidential candidate (which I believe will be Mr. Jagdeo) from winning the elections. This woman who barely and nearly escaped death owes to her family, relatives and the Guyanese nation to use every ounce of her energy in August 2011 (I believe we may have a general election before then; more of that in a later column) to campaign against the return of a government that almost took her life.
This woman should know that it wasn’t the security forces, the private sector, the teachers, the opposition politicians, the religious preachers of this country that almost got her killed. The sole culprit is the Government of Guyana. It has been in power for seventeen years and cannot provide its people with electricity, not only in Demerara where that helpless woman almost lost her life, but throughout the entire territory of Guyana. For those who foolishly support the semi-civilized use of power in Guyana, read the following GPL schedule printed in last Sunday newspapers.
Here is just one extract from that GPL bulletin: September 8, – Railway Embankment, Kitty, all areas bordering Cummings Canal and Campbellville will have eight hours of blackout. Those very areas on September 9 and 10 will get twelve hours of blackout. This is just one example I have taken from the GPL Power Watch schedule. There are dozens of more districts that will endure eight hours of electricity disruptions four days weekly. It is to be noted that the Power Watch publications cover all of Guyana. The reason for the daily blackouts, according to GPL, is line maintenance. But lying to the people of Guyana is a hobby of the Guyana Government that it seems to enjoy. If the reason for power outages is line maintenance then either the lines are dead or there is no maintenance at all.
Here is the logic. If the lines have to be maintained then after being looked after, they have to be in use. But they are not, because we keep getting daily electricity disruptions. So at what point are the lines working after they are maintained? How can your car be parked for maintenance then, you pick it up and it doesn’t work? It has to work after it has been serviced. So you bear up and leave it with the mechanic another day for servicing. You collect it and still it is not working. What is the answer? The car has broken down; maintenance will not work. GPL has broken down. Line maintenance is just a sick excuse.
Let’s end with Clement Rohee as we did yesterday. He said that the Government is not removed from the problems of the country. Mr. Rohee and his Government cannot provide this nation with electricity and blackout almost caused a woman to be raped and killed. Will you vote for Mr. Rohee?

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