It is the squeaking chair that gets the oil

Aug 27, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,
I have been reading the harsh responses to the critical comments made by David Hinds and some leaders of the opposition parties to the recent visit to Buxton by President Jagdeo.
One Todd Morgan, in a letter published in Kaieteur News of August 25, says, “David Hinds would want you to believe that Buxton is the only village with developmental challenges – what about Black Bush and other areas, in some cases PPP strongholds, that are starved for developmental resources. There are other communities that have similar challenges as Buxton.”
That sounds so very familiar
In fact, it reminded me so much of the circumstances about three years ago which provoked me to write a letter to the media about an opportunity lost which was published in November 2007.
My letter said:
Dear Sir
An Opportunity Lost
Evan Thomas, writing in Kaieteur News of November 29 asks “Are Africans making every effort to improve their lot, other than crying?”
“Could you justify the nonsense in Buxton which, to my mind, was the most idiotic strategy employed by blacks to fight oppression in the history of this country,” he goes on.
It prompts me to remind Mr. Thomas of a strategy, not so idiotic, that was proposed several years ago by the then Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Desmond Hoyte.
Mr. Hoyte was sensible enough to anticipate the collapse of a community and caring enough to offer suggestions intended to prevent that collapse. He proposed an investment of a significant sum which could be used to create employment opportunities for young black men in the village and to reduce the sense of hopelessness.
You know what happened? President Jagdeo went on outreach programmes to Berbice and then to Essequibo and asked his supporters what they thought about the idea of investing in Buxton when there were other villages with problems. (He must have thought it was democracy in action). The supporters, predictably, said ‘no’. Based on their negative responses, he disregarded Mr. Hoyte’s proposals.
Commonsense should have told him that it is the squeaking chair that gets the oil. There might have been other villages with problems, but theirs were never as urgent and critical as Buxton’s.
Nothing was given to Buxton. It was an opportunity lost.
The rest, Mr. Thomas, is now history.
That was my letter in November 2007.
Now, three years after, it is Todd Morgan’s turn to regurgitate the same stuff about other communities with similar challenges as Buxton.
It is amusing how, when these circuses are exposed and the costumes are taken off of the clowns, there are these hysterical rantings about others having “no interest in promoting inter-ethnic understanding and unity among all the people of our country.”
They have repeated these lines so often, they might be beginning to believe their own deception.
Leon Shanks

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