Latest update April 27th, 2026 12:30 AM
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‘Tis the Season’
The lighting of the Courts Christmas Tree on Main Street drew the usual thousands of gawkers and well-wishers to kick off our season of jollity. It might not be the Norway Fir of Rockefeller Centre in New York that went up on the same day, but we at least beat them to the actual “lighting up”. They wait for the week after Thanksgiving. Thankfully, we haven’t adopted this American custom yet and we can plunge right into our Xmas spirit.
And not a day too soon: Guyanese need a lift. With the depressing news in the sugar industry – where our US$200 million Skeldon Factory investment remain beset with teething problems into its third year of operation – the sugar bosses might need their spirits lifted.
The workers, we understand, have management right where they want them. Without enough canecutters to harvest even the depleted stocks in the fields, workers can pretty much do as they please as management whinge at the ever plummeting production.
Workers can now cover an additional daily task, if they so desire. With the tax free days and other incentives, even the most easy-going canecutter can now rake in $30,000 weekly. Of course, this has to be husbanded for the ever-increasing “out-of-crop” seasons, but with Christmas around the corner, we can be assured that they will be having a jolly good old time.
GuySuCo, which is haemorrhaging continuously, has once again gone a begging to the national treasury for $4 billion or so. That should perk up the harried managers in time for Christmas.
Then there were the laid off Barama Plywood Factory workers. Tanked by its boiler gone kaput over negligence of either some workers or management (take your pick) the factory had to send its workers home until such time that the boiler could be resuscitated. Not such good news with the Christmas season in sight.
But in stepped the President (not of the company – the Head honcho of the whole country) and the workers were promised $25,000 monthly for the duration – plus free computer training for those factory workers that might have been contemplating a move into our high end IT sector. But that was not all. After our own Peeper pleaded their case, another $5000 monthly was added to the relief package. Let the good times roll.
We can be pretty sure that our Disciplined Forces will be receiving their now obligatory Christmas bonus – especially after the Police Force showed their “softer” side at their Cultural Extravaganza and the Army wowed everyone with their display of military might at their 45th Anniversary Tattoo ceremony.
Even though they exhibited their fearsome prowess to take on drug operators (But won’t the said operators now be aware of the tactics they can now expect?) and jump out of the sky, our army showed that it was still a people’s army. How else can one explain the Commander in Chief and the Head of the GDF lolling about in jeans?
We can’t wait for the Christmas party in the Officers’ Mess.
But the best news of all came from the World Bank. Last Monday it announced that after a dip last year, remittances had shot up to the old levels and this year we can expect US$280 million to flow into our pockets from our friends and families abroad. And these are just the official figures: we all know (to our delight) that almost as much are dropped off through our unofficial channels – such as visitors.
And we know too that quite a large chunk of that US$280 million will be coming in for Christmas – especially with the relatives dropping in for a taste of the real black cake and ginger beer. Who says that “Father Christmas” doesn’t live in the north?
But in all seriousness, Christmas is a special time for all Guyanese and we are glad that we are now alerted to get into the mood. The quality that traditionally defined us as a people was our famed Guyanese hospitality and this was nowhere more on display than during the Christmas season. Let’s bring back that good ole Xmas feeling with a vengeance.
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