The tale of two Guyanas

Jan 03, 2013 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
Now that you’ve seen the happier feel-good “Guyana at Christmas” postings, there is a darker side to the country that I must share. This is a tale of two Guyana’s, separate and unequal in almost every respect
On one hand, there’s the Guyana of the spectacularly wealthy. The citizens can shop at its most expensive boutiques, live in upscale neighbourhoods and drink champagne at its swankiest nightclubs. This Guyana is fueled partially by an explosion in gold production and its illegal export, so much so that it has overtaken the narcotics trade as Guyana’s main export. A recent sign of this bonanza is the fact that someone recently jacked up a very large gold shipment in Curaçao and no one seems remotely interested in claiming ownership.
In Guyana’s cities and towns, gold-funded building construction is creating a mini-boom and together with the Chinese and Brazilian feeding frenzy, is driving real estate prices to insane new heights.
This is also the merchant class that would put on a well publicized party for the less fortunate at Christmas, but proceed to gouge them the rest of the year with overpriced, shoddily-made Chinese merchandise that now flood the marketplace. Such contradictions seem to be the rule rather than the exception throughout this Camelot of glitter, gold and drugs wealth.
And their wealth is usually protected behind guarded walls and by a pliant local gendarmerie willing to inflict unspeakable harm in the name of the landed gentry. I live in the outskirts of this Guyana…when I come home.
Then there’s the other Guyana. The El Dorado of the sufferers…living and working in dark depressing squalor. This is the Guyana where the city of Georgetown and the countryside have all taken the character of some post-apocalyptic movie set.
The land is overgrown and unkempt; the streets are strewn with garbage. And when it rains, the most gentle shower threatens to overwhelm existing drainage systems, clogged with tons of plastic, styrofoam and garbage. In recent years, a new strain of grass has shown up in Guyana…one that has invaded the canals and trenches. Travel the countryside and you will find canals completely clogged up…one can actually walk from one bank to the other without getting wet.
In the inevitable flooding, the citizens of this Republic of the Dammed put up a valiant fight trying to protect their homes and humble possessions from being inundated, but invariably the flood waters win. People are forced day after day, to wade through water strewn with floating garbage and much worse, which then creates a breeding ground for innumerable swarms of mosquitos.
Most would move to higher ground or less hostile territory if they could but remember the “insane” real estate prices I mentioned earlier? Besides, emigration these days is becoming a more difficult enterprise.
To be fair, government has programs in place to issue house lots and these have had some success. But development has been largely scattershot and, some say, tainted by political patronage.
In any event, authorities seem neither willing nor able to alleviate this endless cycle of misery, but are happy to engage each other in a bizarre game of finger-pointing and Machiavellian manipulation. Meanwhile the citizenry, not yet willing to take up pitchforks and torches, collectively shrug their shoulders and wait for the next Christmas or the latest show at the stadium to relieve their unending drudgery and sense of hopelessness.
The political parties, paralyzed by their own selfish and partisan interests, largely stand by and watch this carnival of misery unfold day after day…and largely do nothing. Within the parties, the energetic, compassionate, creative, committed and valiant are largely subsumed by the cowardly, the lazy, the dimwitted, the unqualified and the self-serving.
And throughout this never-ending ordeal, Guyanese people hang on. Humour is never far from the surface. People can always find something ironic in this situation. It is a truly admirable ability to laugh in the face of the gods who would conspire to drive them insane.
There are many more facets to these two Guyanas. The intellectuals, the media, the politicos and the NGOs can break it down in more profound ways. Yes, people tend to talk and talk and write copious volumes about this, but I ask…is it not now time for action?
You may feel free to cuss me out if you like, but it is almost impossible to miss or ignore the two nations I see. That would call for total blindness or a willingness to look the other way.
Can’t do that. I would break my own neck.
Gordon Burnett

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