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This is Guyana
It is said that what goes up must come down. Somebody forgot something: this is Guyana and regular laws do not apply here, including those that apply to gravity. Doubters should check with that elevator on the East Bank Demerara. Better yet, have a kind word with the people who were trapped in it for what might have seemed like an eternity. And don’t forget those who are strapped with the weight of one good project after another that falls flat on face. In this instance, it was one that refused to obey human and mechanical commands and went the other way.
As if that was not enough, there was another reminder through the picture of the passenger bridges down at the CJIA. Why do these embarrassments continue to occur with regularity in this country? Can’t we get anything right? Can’t we ever get the right people? Can’t we get a break with the people that we engage to manage and make good on these costly projects? Can’t we get even by throwing some people in jail? Or recovering something for failure to deliver and specific performance?
A lot of money was spent to get those elevators going; a lot of time was lost to get something out of them, as in taking some citizens here and there, and from here to across there while using the heights. But no sooner than they started working than one froze in midstride and left people hanging. Literally.
By now, it should be clear that this country has an inexhaustible capacity to absorb abuse. Other societies that would scream bloody murder, here enough is never enough. That saturation point and boiling, overflowing point is never reached. Whether the usual suspects of local (or foreign) contractors and corporate administrators and political predators, isn’t it past the time that they be held accountable?
There is so much time wasted upon preparations for elections, the processes to be followed in any elections to come (whenever that plane touches down here), and who is going to be watching whom, that this paper feels compelled to place still some more questions before whatever is left of the voting public: electing who to do what?
To serve as an exchange and part of the rotten continuum of failure? Of sparkling promises, but dismal realities? Of smart and slick politicking, but dumb and dumber governing?
Even when making accommodation for mechanical failure and human error (at the operational level), it is asking for too much, and insulting the patience and understanding of a resigned Guyanese citizenry. These things do not happen so quickly, and especially after being forced to wait so long. Why, it is a matter of a few short weeks only since they went into service. Who is going to want to travel in those contraptions? Though only a single instance, who has the confidence to trust the integrity and reliability of these tombs going forward? To ask and answer, that might be the unknowing or the highly intoxicated only.
Then there were those passenger bridges that are down. These are brand-new systems in an airport complex that is already assuming the redundancy of antiquity before it is even completed. In more familiar Guyanese terms, these metal bridges are turning to be monsters of a macabre variety: old before their time. Somebody had a good time when they sourced that business. As usual, Guyana, has gotten the dirty end of a business deal.
While all the wheeling and dealing and stealing is going on (government after government, and with much blame to parcel out), it might be timely to remind the political and administrative principals that oil is coming. That means a lot of people have an interest in coming here. To invest. To spend. To take a gander at Guyana. Poor form to greet them with such sorry standards. Somebody do something. Please!
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