COUNTRYMAN: Watch out Guyana – here comes forward-looking 2016!

Dec 27, 2015 Countryman, Features / Columnists

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By Dennis Nichols

In a few short days the season of goodwill (and questionable choices) will be over. Life goes on. Some of us who have overindulged in food, drink, and hastily-made decisions, will likely do some serious reflection on this annual, end-of-year, habitual splurge. New Year’s resolutions will undoubtedly be hashed and rehashed – nothing really new there. However the new year beckons, and its call is a tentatively inviting one.
Time flies, and I for one, am pondering the fact that Christmas 2016 is ‘only’ 362 days away, and Guyana’s watershed 50th Independence anniversary just five short months down the trail. In the continuum of human existence these are mere chronological dots that disappear almost as soon as they are marked down. January is a lot closer to December that it appears.
Like all mortal beings I don’t know what awaits me in the New Year, during which Guyana celebrates her Golden Jubilee independence anniversary. Would I even be around, given the briefness and inconstancy of life? I hope so for I would dearly love to see, if nothing else, the continued unfurling of our reinvigorated landscape, not only in the capital, but from Charity to Crabwood Creek. The hinterland, having its own aesthetic appeal, needs special consideration.
Almost fifty years ago, Forbes Burnham and Cheddi Jagan embraced each other at the Queen Elizabeth Park just before the Golden Arrowhead rose and fluttered in the midnight air. Regardless of the perceived animosity between these two national leaders, I have no doubt that there must have been some degree of solidarity and genuine affection between them at that historic juncture as they witnessed the fruition of a mutual dream.
Would it be asking too much for our current president and opposition leader to reenact this moment, at least symbolically, five months from now? I think not. And for the supporters of these gentlemen and political leaders in general, would it be too much to expect all of us to put country first, partisan pandering last, and stand as one people? From February’s Republic revelry to May’s Independence jubilee, let’s showcase something more than perfunctory politeness.
In any case I don’t believe we are so cynical as to deny the possibility that our nation’s leaders on either side of the parliamentary divide can agree, and work together on some major issues that will help determine the path we take towards real development. And must the opposition always, or even generally, oppose? Given human nature and that of politics, I guess the answer is a grudging ‘Yes’.
Four days from today the strains of that timeless Scottish folk song ‘Auld lang syne’ will waft on the airwaves and, more so, on the night air at our traditional Old Year’s Night parties. Penned by the poet Robert Burns over two centuries ago, it is both an affirmation recalling an old friendship and a rhetorical question as to whether it is right that such fidelities and memories be forgotten. It is evidently directed at an old friend. Take a hint politicians.
The response is positive, and peaks in the final verse (which is hardly ever sung) in which the poet offers, “And there’s a hand my trusty friend! And give me a hand ‘o’ thine! And we’ll take a right goodwill draught, for auld lang syne.” (Roughly ‘old time’s sake) The song’s haunting melody and poignant lyrics evoke nostalgia and an inexplicable sadness for the passing away of old things, notwithstanding the possibility of new and better days ahead.
Looking forward to 2016, I can almost predict a swelling of nationalistic pride, for at least a sizeable portion of the Guyanese citizenry. However, reflection on past failures and fractures will undeniably be on many people’s minds, and any kind of flagrant overindulgences will be sharply criticized. That is a guarantee, and should be, since we still have a long, long way to go before we stop seeing our country as a perennially-backward and forever-developing nation. But I look forward nevertheless.
I look forward to seeing the kind of economic progress the man-in-the-street can identify with – not GDP, consumer price index and money supply data sheets, but ordinary Guyanese, being able to adequately feed and clothe ourselves, build our own homes, and write our own entrepreneurial success stories. I want to see the public service revitalized by young professionals, and the education system revamped to accommodate and effectively educate every child of school-going age.
With compassionate urgency, I want to see the relevant ministries collaborate to provide safe and sanitary accommodation and rehabilitative facilities for our homeless and mentally-disturbed street people. This is a massive and tricky undertaking, but an absolutely necessary one; and we need to be reminded that these are our own – human beings with physical, mental, and emotional needs, and  personalities, regardless of how distorted they may appear to us.
In 2016 I want to see at least a start to the comprehensive overhauling of our country’s potable water delivery system. Really! Water rationing in this sprawling land of many, and less than a million people? What an irony! And those GPL blackouts – may they become as rare, or in fact as nonexistent as a hurricane making landfall on our wind-swept coastline.
What else? There has been a good deal of talk recently about illegal drug use/abuse and about the possibility of legalizing marijuana for medicinal and/or religious use, or at least decriminalizing its possession. Although I am not a zealous advocate, I would like to see in the new year, a new approach of openness in debate on this issue. Few now doubt the herb’s medicinal value.
Incidentally, for the self-righteous prudes amongst us, Israel (God’s chosen) is a world leader in research on medical marijuana, the use of which is now legal in that country.
By the way, speaking of drugs – why isn’t that archetypal drug alcohol illegal? With hard liquor at least, it should be a debatable topic, especially in a country like ours. It is a depressant, an organ destroyer, and a provoker of criminal mischief, mayhem and even murder. But rum is big money-making business, as are most forms of distilled liquors around the world. So, shouldn’t what’s good for the rum goose, also be good for the ganja gander? Hmmm!
Now back to our pet project – the ongoing campaign to keep Georgetown and Guyana clean. It would be great accomplishment, entailing a herculean ‘cleaning of the Augean stables’ to have every gutter, alleyway, trench and canal in the city clean and free-flowing, and most of the bushy overgrowth trimmed in time for next year’s anticipated extravaganza. Could it actually happen? I’m both optimistic and skeptical. But we’ve been doing a good job so far. Why worry?
Finally, our independence quinquagenary (just threw in that fun word) celebration must reflect the diversity of our populace which, despite ethnic and religious differences, constitutes a most vital element of our nationhood.
So I’m hoping that 2016 will see an African-Indian-Amerindian-Portuguese-Chinese-Mixed Race mélange of cultural expression, culminating in an explosion of oneness come May 26th. Anything less would be anticlimactic, antithetical, and anti-Guyanese. Happy New Year!

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