One day that little boy is going to embarrass Mr. Jagdeo badly

Mar 24, 2010 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

It will take up much space to describe the old story of the Emperor’s New Clothes and the little boy who didn’t hear what he was supposed to say and ended up embarrassing his Emperor. For our younger folks who don’t know, that tale was written since 1837 and has lived on since then, please look it up on the internet. We have a government here whose performance is absolutely abysmal but its leaders go all over Guyana at official ceremonies extolling its non-existent virtues. The latest of these charades was the opening of the airport branch of Roti Hut.
A particular angle always present in presidential deliveries at these ceremonies is the accusation that the private media paints a negative canvas on Guyana. You listen and read this repetitive refrain and you wonder what goes through the minds of the attendees. At those events, most of the listeners would have had a terrible encounter with the administration of the public realm. Some would have become fed up with the totality of breakdown of the public sector.
Let us examine the totality of the world in Guyana that the government is in charge of and see if the thousands of listeners to Mr. Jagdeo’s exhortations would not have cause to wonder how competent the leaders of their government are.
At two frightening junctions in Georgetown, the traffic signals died a natural death. I grew up close to one of those areas, Brummel Place and Brickdam and saw many deaths including the injury to a nephew when he was a baby. Don’t tell me that none of Mr. Jagdeo’s listeners has ever encountered a frightening moment at that confluence. Then there is Lamaha Street and Albert Street. Everyday there is chaos there, because the Government of Guyana that paints a rosy picture of a vastly developing country cannot fix the signals and has left the lights to die. Do Mr. Jagdeo’s listeners believe him after what they themselves and family members and relatives see in their country?
Minister Clement Rohee says he doesn’t mind being President, yet he cannot get the police force to follow professional standards. Do you know who the most feared person in Guyana is – the traffic cop. Young girls are particularly targeted for harassment. I have a niece who wants to give up driving. She is afraid of traffic policemen. Don’t tell me that none of Mr. Jagdeo’s listeners has ever had a young child that didn’t receive some unprofessional treatment from the traffic ranks.
How about our premier high school – the college of the queen? Do they have teachers? Do you know that the real heroes behind the CXC successes are the private teachers who conduct afternoon lessons? There is a private lesson programme in Kitty and you would think it is Queen’s College, because most of the kids in attendance are from that school.
Wasn’t it in Guyana, a country that is making wonderful progress under the present government that a serious criminal case had to be quashed and the defendants freed because the incriminating documents were missing from the High Court registry? Why are we to assume that this is an isolated case? It is not.
I saw two teenagers trying to rob a couple on the seawall. I pulled out my cell phone and called Sparendaam Police Station. The number was engaged. I tried 911. No response. I have tried 911 and failed so many times that I have concluded it is a waste of time. Do the thousands of listeners to Mr. Jagdeo like what they see in Georgetown? Isn’t a war-torn country less stink than Georgetown?
I know the owner of Roti Hut for a long time now. I hope he knows the rainy season will come even though it is late. He had better be prepared for flooding from the nearby gutters on Albert Street. I hope all those businessmen who flock to listen to Mr. Jagdeo during those ceremonies realize that flood time is fast approaching and the reason why there will be a flood is not because of overtopping of the conservancy but the clogged drains and alley-ways, and they will lose hundreds of millions.
One day, during his speech, a little boy is going to get up and say, “Mr. President meh school don’t have toilets, me and meh friends does gat to go behind the school in de bushes but I don’t know when de girls does go. Can you do something about it, Mr. President?”

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One day that little boy is going to embarrass Mr. Jagdeo badly

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