Govt. must provide cash relief to flood victims of 2017

Jul 31, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
In 2014, flooding caused much damage to some 6,000 homes in the UK. David Cameron donned his Wellies (long boots) on a walkabout into the areas affected by the floods and instantaneously promised to pay each householder STG 5,000 (pounds) as a “repair and renewal” grant. As the head of government, he delivered on that promise.
When Bharat Jagdeo was in office, he also visited the flood victims during his tenure and instantaneously offered each householder at that time G$10,000 as a “flood relief” grant. He also delivered on that promise.
Today we have Minister Ronald Bulkan and Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo visiting the people of Rupununi in dress shoes and all they can offer the people affected by the flood is a delaying concept of “contemplation” and after one month they have not delivered on it as they keep themselves distant from the misery of the ordinary people.
In the National Assembly when asked the question what compensation is on the table for the flood victims in the Hinterlands especially Region 8, this is what Bulkan said, “The question of compensation is not normally one that is provided by the state in situations such as this. What will be contemplated is assistance”. Well, that is a plain untruth because I have already pointed two examples in two countries where compensation was offered without all that bureaucratic bunkum from Minister Bulkan.
For his edification, the meaning of compensation according to the Cambridge dictionary is “the action of awarding money or resources for losses”. Similarly, the meaning of assistance is “the provision of money and resources to help someone.” So whom really is Bulkan trying to fool? And why can’t he just ensure with haste that those who are suffering do have the resources to stabilize their lives?
In early July when Nagamootoo and Bulkan visited Rupununi to be with the flood victims, they most comically went with dress shoes – talk about out of touch with reality.
When Jagdeo was in power, he went fully equipped and fully inserted himself in the local conditions, unlike these aloft and arrogant people like Bulkan who want to have the authority to be Ministers but chooses instead to hide from their responsibilities. They can never earn emotive intelligence and passion for serving the people’s from behind a desk and with dress shoes from a distance.
I call on Bulkan to deliver a cash grant for the flood victims of Guyana, but then I remembered, his name is not Harmon and he is powerless and can only parrot a message given to him. So I am calling on Minister Joseph Harmon to facilitate a cash grant for the recovering householders who suffered from the 2017 floods.
Sase Singh

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