Jagdeo gives free Kaieteur Falls tickets to Caribbean millionaires

Nov 10, 2010 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

When I was a boy growing up on D’urban Street, Wortmanville, I had a disturbing view of the sport of motor-racing. To me it was not only a rich man’s hobby but there was a comparative ring of decadence about the genre.
Growing up in Wortmanville, the types of sports you naturally gravitated to were cricket, football and basketball. All three were dominated by ordinary folks and money was never flowing. In motor-racing, (at least that was what I thought), men put expensive cars on the tracks just for fun and after the games just shove them off into a warehouse not to be seen again.
If my perception was wrong I was certainly right that it was a rich man’s escapade. The very nature of the game demands that you have to be more than and above being comfortable to participate in motor-racing. But even if you do not have to be wealthy to compete at the circuit at South Dakota, the objective reality is another matter.
From the fifties until the Portuguese commercial class migrated at the beginning of the seventies, motor-racing in Guyana was a vacation enjoyed by folks from the wealthy class. Even today, those from Guyana who participate in the sports are from the middle class, upper middle class and the infamous nouveau riche.
Many who were not wealthy and have become moneyed people have joined the sports like the pandit’s son who rose from rags to riches after the PPP won the 1992 election.
At last Sunday’s meeting, President Jagdeo announced that all the participants in Group 4 would be given free tickets to Kaieteur Falls. This group included some Caribbean millionaires, especially from Jamaica and Barbados. Three of the men who flew to Kaieteur Falls on Monday are very wealthy guys in their respective countries.
Jagdeo went on to state that all Guyanese winners for the year 2010 will also fly to Kaieteur Falls, compliments of the Government of Guyana. On Monday and Tuesday, Ogle airport was busy as dozens took up the generous offer of Mr. Jagdeo. Mind you, that money isn’t coming from Jagdeo’s personal pocket.
The more I study the politics of Mr. Jagdeo, the more I am both amused and irritated.
As soon as he leaves office, I will do a full-length manuscript of his politics. There is no question about it – Mr. Jagdeo is smitten by wealthy people. He loves their company. He is fascinated by what they have. And he ingratiates himself into their world.
Of course it pays Mr. Jagdeo to be such. Who would buy that house that Mr. Jagdeo sold for $120M? But then again, opposition politician Khemraj Ramjattan has another take on the sale of the house which will have to wait on a subsequent column.
It is absolutely ridiculous to give rich people free tickets to Kaieteur Falls. Why weren’t these trips allocated to the winners of our local cricket, football and basketball competitions? Why no free trips to Kaieteur Falls for the winning participants in our annual school competition?
Why no free trips for teachers, public servants, soldiers, police, nurses who on the age of retirement at 55 may each have served their country for over twenty years? It is my guess that over ninety percent of the Guyanese people have not seen Kaieteur Falls. The only Kaieteur I have seen is the one on Saffon Street, Charlestown, owned by a man named Glenn Lall and where I can find another man named Adam Harris every day. Not to mention my very good friend, Peeping Tom. That is the only Kaieteur I have been to.
So is this the start of a new dispensation? Will we see free tickets to the real Kaieteur (not that the other Kaieteur, my Kaieteur, is not real too) being shared out to policemen and soldiers who go beyond the call of duty? Are trips being organized for the winners of the imminent swimming competition at the newly constructed Olympic-size swimming pool? Or was the display of generosity to the motor-racing community just another manifestation of the Freudian yearnings of Mr. Jagdeo that I allude to above?
Of course I would like a free ticket to Kaieteur Falls, even from Mr. Jagdeo. But I will have to be rude to Mr. Jagdeo and refuse the plane he sends for me. Sorry! But I won’t be traveling in that vehicle. If Mr. Jagdeo doesn’t mind, I would like to make my own arrangement and get my own pilot. Can Mark Benschop fly a plane?

Latest News

Jagdeo gives free Kaieteur Falls tickets to Caribbean millionaires

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| April, 4th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

‘One Guyana’ 3×3 Quest Basketball opens with local teams in...

GCA, East Coast surge to huge wins

GFF/Concacaf kick off two-day Match Commissioners...

Chase’s Academic outclass Bartica to move...

Three Miles Secondary make clean sweep of Jagan...

National Chess champions off to Trinidad and...

Features/Columnists

This must not be our hour of humiliation

The U.S. “Joining” the Commonwealth: an unreasonable expectation

Security – Guyana needs it, pays for it

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

Jagdeo gives free Kaieteur Falls tickets to Caribbean millionaires

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| April, 4th, 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 […]