“I am a nobody…”

Sep 10, 2013 Letters

Dear Editor,
I am a nobody. I live in Guyana. I was born and bred here. I have no hopes of migrating. I have family overseas, but I never approached them, nor did they suggest that I be ‘sponsored’. I live here because I never considered migrating.
I have a middle class job. I have a small bank account. I believe I have a survivable pension at the end of my working life, if I make it that far. I know many Guyanese, or many in the world for that matter, are not as fortunate to achieve the level of my existence. I see it daily. Now Editor, I suppose you and your readers might wonder why I started out by saying that I am a nobody.
It is because of this. I live in a country where I am invisible. I don’t mind being invisible mind you. I relish being invisible – your life is supposed to be trouble-free. However, if you are invisible in Guyana, you are destined to suffer. I don’t know anyone in authority. I don’t know any high or low level policeman. I don’t rub shoulders with any minister or big businessman who knows a Minister. I don’t know any leader of the Opposition. I have no contacts at Georgetown Public Hospital or any of the private health facilities. I don’t know any influential reporter. I don’t have ties to any political party. I am a nobody – like many Guyanese.
As a result, we suffer. We suffer because institutions (both private and public) and public services, rarely operate how they are supposed to operate – with efficiency and objectivity. If you don’t know somebody, or somebody doesn’t know of you, there is not much impetus to offer an efficient and objective service. How often you join a line at a service-based entity (public and private) and you see someone in the line pull out a cell phone and in a couple of minutes is called out of the queue to be served? How often you visit the Passport Office and whilst you camped out since dawn to ensure you beat the lines, you notice someone walks in and is served right away? And I don’t mean like a big official or big businessman. I mean like an ordinary man or woman, who despite being ordinary, is not invisible. He or she knows somebody. Remember Freddie Kissoon’s experience the other day when he used his contacts to get expedited passport services?
The same happens at police stations. How often have you heard (or know people who told you) the consistent excuse offered by ranks at police stations that they have no transportation, or that the issue being reported is a private dispute, but then they act as agents of certain persons in similar scenarios? Heaven forbid if you are stopped by a traffic rank and commanded to drive to the station! If you don’t know somebody, you are destined to suffer for the rest of the day, guaranteed. People who are nobody suffer the most at police stations. I invite any person in authority to do spot visits and talk to the persons being persecuted in police stations. But then again, because they are nobody, there will be no impetus to visit.
Also, everyone seems to be in a hurry. The taxis, the minibuses, the motorcycles, the bicycles, the pedestrians, the Ministers, the President etc. They all seem to be late for some life-threatening appointment. No road rules apply to the above persons. The cutting in lines, the abuse of the turning lane to go straight on, the abuse of the sirens – the list goes on and on.
Then there is this feeling in the air anywhere you go in Guyana that you should tread on eggshells. One should avoid confrontations, even if it is to stand up for your rights, especially if you are a nobody like me. It just feels like life has no worth in Guyana. It can be snuffed out and no authority does anything about it, if it is willed by those who know somebody. Ironically, or not, the foreigners in Georgetown now seem to have learned to survive easily here. The Police, especially, are at their beck and call.
It is easy to be rid of a nobody like me. That is why I give way, I concede and remain silent in my long lines, I just watch on and grimace inwardly. Some may say that I am a coward. I agree. I am a coward. I don’t want to be a statistic. I don’t want to lose my life because some idiot cuts in line and I have a few words with him. I don’t want to be victimised because I lodge a complaint about a policeman’s behaviour in my district. My country Guyana is all about who you know or who knows you – I challenge anyone to honestly state the contrary. And, if you’re nobody like I am, then I pray that God protects and keeps you safe.
Rama Bhajan-Singh

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