WHAT SHARMA SOLOMON AND MY FOWL THIEF FRIEND HAVE IN COMMON

Aug 26, 2012 News

By Ralph Seeram

I read the Kaieteur News headline “Lindeners begin reconstruction of burnt school” and mentally began to admire the spirit of the people of Linden. I thought to myself that they have quite a few more buildings to rebuild; most, of it if not all at taxpayers’ expense.
However on reading further into the article, among those at the scene was Regional Chairman Sharma Solomon. His presence brought a smile to my face and reminded me of my dear departed friend “Patsy” and an incident that happened many, many years ago, going back to my bachelor days.
Back in the days when I was a bachelor, I had my own house in Smythfield, New Amsterdam. It was bequeathed to me by my grandmother. Truth be told I don’t think I was using it the way she intended it to be. It was the bachelor quarters (BQ) for all my rum-drinking friends. There was gambling going on with the house (meaning me) getting a share of the winnings (all went back for rum). My drunken friends would sleep there; some even used it as a meeting place for their girl friends.
When all the bars were closed in New Amsterdam including our favourite “Jardines Bar” every one moved on to my BQ to finish off the night. In true Guyanese style we had to get food and “cutters”. My friends brought the supplies, including chicken or duck (taken or stolen from their parents) but always from their parents’ pens.
I do not want my readers to get the wrong idea. I did the cooking. To be honest it was a great and carefree period of my life. I was however not looked upon favorably by some of the parents who felt I was the bad influence on their sons. My friend “Patsy’s” mother even dropped off his clothes at my front gate one Sunday morning, shouting “Yuh drink deh, yuh sleep deh, yuh might as well live deh.” Patsy was not home for some three days.
One night we needed chicken and it was Patsy’s turn to provide a chicken for the cutters. So off he went to take or steal a chicken from his mother’s fowl pen. He returned with a sizable chicken and I must say it was the last one of six chickens in the pen; we had previously consumed the five during different drinking sprees.
Apparently stealing the last chicken in the pen was too much for his mother, who in addition to searching for the chicken launched a “cussing tirade” against the neighbours for “tiefing” her chicken. Patsy “barefacedly” joined his mother in “cussing out” the neighbours for stealing his mother’s fowl. He also joined in the search around the neighborhood to see if they could find the missing fowl.
When I read what the agitators of the protest were saying at the site of that burnt school, it reminded me of Patsy cussing out his neighbour for stealing his mother’s chicken, which to be more accurate was a fowl.
Aubrey Norton’s poor attempt to cast blame on “agents of the government” was so weak. Did agents of the government torch the other private and public buildings as well as the toll booths? Was it government agents that looted stores and extorted and robbed persons travelling through Linden? The agitators of the Linden protesters need to face the reality that they have done more harm than good to the Linden community.
The issue of increased electricity rates did not warrant the mayhem that took place in Linden, not to mention the loss of three lives. One must remember that the Government did engage the opposition in discussions over the gradual increase in electricity; the issue could have been settled through discussions.
So where does Linden go from here? Sharma Solomon has used up his “fifteen minutes of fame”. Private investors, despite what they are saying publicly, would be hesitant to invest in the area. Think about it; would you invest your money in an area where you think your building could be burnt or looted?
The Commission of Inquiry will finish its job; a year from now what will change? We have to wait and see. One thing will be certain, the people will be paying increased electricity rates. After all nothing in life is free, and the three men that lost their lives will be a distant memory to the agitators and politicians, who will move on to new issues to attack the PPP government.
A year from now the people of Linden will realize that they were used by opponents of the government to “get at the PPP Government”. They will then ask themselves was it worth the sacrifice of three lives?

Ralph Seeram can be reached at email: [email protected]