FROM THE DIASPORA … INSECURE GUYANESE MEN, INCOMPETENT TROTMAN AND GRAMOXONE

Jan 20, 2013 News

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By Ralph Seeram
She was a beautiful young school teacher, fair with long flowing hair, always pleasant, always smiling, never passed you without a greeting. She was making her way home from school on this very sunny afternoon around 4pm, when suddenly her ex lover scrambled out from behind the black sage bush, cutlass in hand.
He viciously began chopping away at her, inflicting fatal chops. She screamed for help; passersby attempted to come to her rescue but were held at bay by the young cutlass wielding spurned lover. With blooding gushing all over she was out of her pain quickly.
Having murdered his former girlfriend, the enraged youngster pulled out a bottle and quickly ingested a fatal dose of Malathion.
That incident took place in front of my home in Smythfield, New Amsterdam in the 70s. Today some 35 years later, nothing has changed in terms of domestic battery in Guyana, except today the poison of choice is Gramoxone.
Today Guyanese women are under brutal assault by insecure men. Guyanese women are being viewed by some men as animals that can be chopped up like meat in a butcher shop. Some Guyanese men are still in the caveman’s mentality. The butchering of these women is not a crime of passion, but a wanton disregard for women and life. The mindset is that women are chattel and can be chopped and sliced anytime the men feel they “get out of line”
The truth is there is not enough being done to stem this tide of domestic violence in Guyana. I am not laying this only on Government, but on the courts, law enforcement and NGO’S.
Here in the United States, West Indian men are finding out that there is no tolerance for domestic violence. Many have been deported, and quite a number are in the process of being deported for assaulting their wife or girlfriends. In Florida there is absolutely a zero tolerance for this type of criminal behaviour.
The police here respond faster on a call about domestic violence than some other offences. On arrival they would order the party they assume to be guilty to leave the home immediately, to prevent any escalation of violence. He or she may not return to the home until a judge says so; this could take weeks or months.
Only this week a newlywed young lady from the Caribbean was telling me about the most horrible and humiliating night of her life. In the U S for less than a year she assaulted her husband because he was in communication with his ex-wife and child. He kept his cool and called the police who hauled the young lady off to jail. He did not go for his cutlass or gun. The young lady was shocked at the swiftness with which she was hauled off to jail.
When I read of the surge of violence against Guyanese women I am reminded of the movie “A Few Good Men” where the Jack Nicholson character tells Tom Cruise “you can’t handle the truth”.
That is exactly the problem with some Guyanese; they can’t handle the truth, as Guyanese would say “deh can’t tek lef”. The old saying that “there are many fishes in the sea” doesn’t carry much meaning to these insecure men. They catch one” fish” and think that it is the only “fish” in the sea.
“Most of these murders were committed by abusive men who could not stand women leaving them because of their abuse. It always boils down to power and control.
Reading about the latest murder suicide in Angoy’s Avenue, New Amsterdam, we find that the man’s wife left him for an 18 year-old, and then made the fatal mistake of returning to him. Why women keep returning to an abusive relationship, has always puzzled me. Women listen up and take warning, if a man is a ‘wife beater” chances are he will remain a “wife beater”. Men seldom change.
One of the problems of course is economic dependence. Women need to empower themselves to make themselves less dependent on men.
As mentioned some men feel they need to control all aspects of their women’s life.
Next we read of the man who allegedly found his wife and her sister in an “uncompromising” position, according to his version.
The women have refuted this. He went into a rage and chopped them. But let’s assume his version is true. This would be a sexual fantasy fulfilled for most men. He could have turned it into a positive situation, and join the party, a “ménage a trios” if you may.
I knew of many situations in which two sisters lived with one husband. In fact one of my neighbours way back then had two wives, and I may add, they lived happily. It’s not unheard of.
While we are on the subject of insecurity, is Speaker of the House Raphael Trotman insecure? It would seem as if he has to appease the opposition at every turn. I already said in a previous article that he is incompetent; I mean look at the mess Parliament is in right now.
I am not going to get into the “back and forth” of the issues in the High Court, but when the speaker talks about Parliamentary Democracy being threatened, Raphael Trotman needs to look into his mirror to see who is the threat to Parliamentary Democracy.
This mess was created by Trotman in his effort to appease the opposition.  Mr. Trotman wore two coats made from the same cloth, the PNC and AFC. He should discard any pretence at impartiality. I mean Clement Rohee has been silenced by Trotman for no credible reason. So if the opposition parliamentarians say they don’t have confidence in a Minister, can’t he speak? Only the President can hire and fire a Minister not the opposition.
Putting aside all the “legal mumbo jumbo” that is the bottom line. So if the Government says they don’t have confidence in the Speaker, would he resign?
In a strange way it all boils down to insecurity and power and control.
So a word of advice for those insecure Guyanese men, if you find your woman with her sister in an “uncompromising position” or your wife watching x- rated movies, please don’t reach for gramoxone or the cutlass, instead show them that “man ah man” and if you have any inadequacies reach for the “blue pill”.
Ralph Seeram can be reached by email: [email protected]

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