Is God looking upon this nation today?

Apr 14, 2017 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

This is a country that per capita must have more churches than most nations in the world. There are Muslim, Hindu and Christian churches that dot almost every village and town in this territory. Outside of these mainstream religions, there are the Bahá’í Faith, the Rastafari culture, Jordanites etc. These churches cannot exist without parishioners. It is safe to say then, that Guyana has a huge God-accepting population. But how godly are the people of this country?
Juxtapose the Guyanese statistics on religious people with our practice of sin, and something eerie appears in front of your face. Per capita again, compared with other countries, Guyana must have one of the highest rates of incest accused; child molesters, reckless drivers, homicides, suicides, young sadistic robbers, divorcees, unprofessional police officials, corrupt politicians, gamblers, industrial violation cases, human rights atrocities etc.
In any analysis of deviancy, depravity and violations in Guyana, there must be taken into consideration the actual numbers of adults among the total population. The population is not 800, 000 but for simplicity sake let’s put it at that. A sizeable part of that number consists of children under 14 years. It means that when you analyse the level of unacceptable behaviour, such conduct occurs in a very small group of people.
Take deaths by road accident. How can such a small population (excluding the 14 years and under I referred to above) sustain so many yearly fatalities from vehicular accidents? A foreign UG lecturer twenty years ago told me in his travels in many countries, he found there was no comparison with the wildness of mini-bus drivers in Guyana. One has to look very hard to find a nation where people drive as insanely as Guyana. It is a frightening prospect to drive on Guyana’s roadways.
You look at Guyana and you wonder if something evil has not destroyed the collective mind and psyche of the Guyanese people. I went to Wakenaam the other day and my wife and I looked at each other in utter amazement and utter disgust at the young lady next to us. She placed the life jacket on her three-year-old son, but she chose not wear one. It is pure stupidity that she did not wear one, because if the boat had capsized how could she have saved her son when she was not wearing one? At the back of her was her friend that she was chatting away with, and she too did not don a life jacket.
Today is a very religious day and those who are Christians are expected to flock to their churches. Soon we will have Hindu and Muslim days of God, when those two religions celebrate. But one is forced to ask: where is God in Guyana?
I come back to the economic methodology of “per capita.” Per capita, UG must be the university with the unhappiest students. I went to two universities in Canada and the service from the staff there was beyond professional courtesy. It was as if they loved the students. Those were wonderful, peaceful, lovely schools that once you entered, you didn’t want to leave. If my contract was not terminated by the UG Council in 2012, I was leaving anyway. UG for me was one of the world’s saddest places.
The editor-in-chief of this newspaper, Adam Harris, stayed at his work station and yelled out the other day; “what these people think I can do?” It was his reaction to a man who called on the phone and had a complaint to make about some human rights matter. I heard Adam and I said to him; “you ain’t see nutten yet.” Two weeks ago, I told Adam to come and take a walk with me. He would see the complaints I get. Per capita, Guyanese must be the most violated people in the world. Everywhere you turn, people come up with anguished cries of being violated.
The stories engulf all the sections of this society – public servants being given a raw deal by their superiors; UG students being mistreated by their lecturers; employers refusing to pay for work done; employees being cheated by their sadistic employers; citizens being harassed by policemen; citizens’ relatives misdiagnosed by incompetent doctors; parents complaints of their children being badly treated in schools. I could go on and on.
So I ask with deep angst running through me; how could a small population like Guyana’s have so much tragedy, sadness, evil, depravities, violations, repugnancies, unfairness, insensitivities, cruelties, bestialities, immoralities etc., yet have so many churches? Is it that God has turned his back on Guyana?

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