Tropical fascism’s comical moments last year

Jan 07, 2011 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

One thing you can say about our ruling leaders – they never fail to engender moments of hilarity. They never fail to appear comical in the eyes of the population. In the spotlight in 2010 was Robeson Benn.
He ordered his Ministry’s workers to decapitate a number of robots that GT&T put up to introduce a new programme the company had pioneered. I was passing on Public Road, Kitty, when I saw the robot on that street being massacred by men with chainsaws. Reminded me of the movie,”Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”
As the news of the executions hit the street, Minister Benn was asked why he did that to GT&T. The Minister told the media, he didn’t know it was GT&T property. It meant, therefore, he didn’t know whose stuff it was. On what basis then did he demolish the robots?
The answer was that he didn’t have one. It meant, therefore, that Benn just saw the stuff and removed it without a reason. It meant, also, that it could have been put up by the Office of the President, the UN or Caricom. His explanation was purely comical.
How can a lawful authority remove a structure without first determining its legal existence?
In the modern world, people are mature enough to know that answers are sought before action comes into play. So is Benn going to move a tractor that has been on the public parapet for days?
Suppose it is evidence in a crime scene and the police sought permission from City Council to have it remain there until its forensic investigators arrive?
Do people do the things Benn did last year with the robots? The answer is yes, but the world becomes a frightening place when these irrational things are not done by homeless people or drunks, but by a Minister of Government charged with the responsibility of safeguarding the nation’s well-being.
If the Guyanese people laughed at Robeson Benn’s antics with the GT&T robots, then it was jokes galore when the UN awarded President Jagdeo its “Champion of the Earth” prize. Immediately the billboards went up all over Guyana. People didn’t laugh at the posters themselves, but what happened after they went up.
With the huge face of President Jagdeo watching at passing pedestrians and motorists, Guyanese began to ask what other champion Mr. Jagdeo was when the garbage was piling up all over Georgetown. As you gazed on the mountain of miasma, you made a joke about the “Champion of the Earth.”
As the rains came and the bushy alleyways sent flood waters into the stores of Regent Street, the laughs were on the champion. I heard these wise-cracks for myself. People stopped me and said funny things about the state of Georgetown against the background of Mr. Jagdeo’s UN award.
The year ended with colossal facetiousness about who was champion of what, when the dump site at Le Repentir made national headlines. I am not going to repeat what passersby said about the dump site inside the cemetery and who was champion of what as Mark Benschop, Christopher Ram and I stood outside the site. But this I can say; Guyanese have the most evocative sense of humour among the cultures of the world.
The moment of hilarity that quickly caught on in 2010 was the official explanation for putting an airstrip on the island of Wakenaam. The nation was asked what would happen if someone was sick and needed urgent medical attention. That was funny, funny indeed. Two reasons for this hilarious episode.
You are putting an airstrip in a graveyard. Wakenaam is being depopulated at supersonic speed. By the time they fly out the sick person, he/she would have been the only person living on the island. Secondly, it was amusement and nothing else to say that in a remote place you need an airstrip for medical emergencies.
At a commonsensical level, the millions of remote villages all over the globe will need their own airstrips. The people of Leguan are now demanding their own runway. India is now building millions of little airfields in remote villages. Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan, Italy, Australia, Canada, Russia, the Sudan (to name just a few large states), have started countless airfield constructions. At least Guyana showed the world in 2010 that it can teach it something.
2010 ended with more hilarity about Wakenaam. It was suggested by the Government that the island needs a modern hotel. Have you read the Stephen King novel, “the Shining” about a ghost hotel?

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Tropical fascism’s comical moments last year

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