The Story Within The Story… Elections and COVID-19: Lots of stories to tell

Apr 12, 2020 Features / Columnists, News, The Story within the Story

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By Leonard Gildarie

It has been more than a week since that partial, countrywide closure of Guyana was announced. Tomorrow, also, will be six weeks after that shameful March 2nd General and Regional Elections.
I have said it before and repeat it here…Guyana is being pummeled from two different directions and has little defence from attackers who are sinking those body blows where it matters. It will probably take a year before we recover to some semblance of the status quo as we know it. Changed forever should be our outlook on life and what we have been taking for granted.
I am a workaholic. I never like things unfinished and never like being beaten. As a newsman, you should never accept that. I rail against my colleagues, and am often at odds for their seeming disinterest.
Over the years, I placed work at the top of the list, and found little time for family. On one hand, it was putting bread on the table and secondly, it was doing something I love.
It has over the years put me at odds with family and friends who wanted to socialize.
The forced isolation in the past week has repositioned my thinking when it comes to family time.
On Friday, I lost badly at Monopoly to two children who seemed to have developed negotiating skills from a few of the country’s bankers.
It has been a hot few days with the fans seeming to be rebelling. My little desk in the corner and hours spent daily conducting radio programmes via Skype and Zoom have both unearthed a reality…I missed my workplace…the newsroom. The home is a distraction to work.
However, I am being spoilt rotten with the attention. Long discussion on the future and education with the family.
As we speak, a few days back, my 11-year-old daughter was scheduled to write the Grade Six exams.
It was cancelled, of course, because of the COVID-19 measures across the globe.
I am not sure when those exams will be held. In limbo too are the CXC and other exams.
That is but one aspect. Thousands of students are in limbo.
Parents, forced to be at home, are now compelled to find a schedule to keep their children disciplined and focused.
It is not easy. I find myself turning my back to the treadmill and heading to the fridge often. Little discipline. That changes in the coming days, I vowed to myself.
It is a fact we will eat more and exercise less when at home.
The harsh reality is that many families do not have the luxury to ponder on the fragility of life at this time. There is a more urgent agenda on the table…food and survival.
It is a harsh fact that COVID-19 has exposed our weakness in the most severe of ways, with a glaring admission that political leaders are lacking maturity when it comes to finding answers, in a bipartisan way, to our national problems.
Despite our attempts, national cohesion is but mere talk. The naked comments of hate have pained me. I am ashamed.
When all the world is being battered, we had a possibility of reducing the impact from the mere fact that food is produced in abundance here. But yet we have food wasting in Berbice from cash crop farmers as no one is buying.
Meanwhile, in Georgetown, garlic and onion are rising. It is a fact.
We are also not talking about the ripple effects of closure to businesses.
One just has to cast the eyes to the Stabroek, Bourda, and La Penitence markets. It has been largely closed. Many homes are battling how to pay their bills. It is a reality that they have to meet their electricity and water and GTT bills. They have rent to pay. Mortgages and loans to the banks.
There are scores of businesses which have reduced working hours and sent employees home. Many of them would be without pay. They do not have a clue where the next paycheck is coming from. Take a drive on Regent Street, the busiest shopping area in the city, and you will see the shuttered doors.
The proof of the pudding will be in the eating about two months from now.
There will be deep trouble for the business community. As we speak, these are but the peripherals.
As a country, we will have to take stock on our systems. The Permanent Secretaries are the managers in the ministries. The heads of agencies and technical personnel are the ones we have to depend for advice.
We will have to understand that the decision-making processes are not only political, but should include the private sector, civil societies and others.
The churches, mosques and mandirs all have citizens who are experienced in logistics.
The evolving COVID-19 situation has brought the spotlight down on the absence of a safety net for our people. The National Insurance Scheme will never be enough. The Civil Defence Commission has done remarkably and will have to be strengthened. There will be a need to up our capacity in the army to deal with situations like this.
The country is badly in need of epidemiologists, more of them. We will have to push our insurance companies, with changes to the relevant laws, to offer more.
In the meantime, there is a major problem development. The elections and COVID-19 have both served to place tremendous strain on our people’s mental health.
It can have far-reaching impact on the home, with an eye needed to rein in domestic abuse, and other crimes.
With many families suffering from lack of enough income to cater for basic food and utilities, the security forces will have to be guarded with the crime situation.
I don’t have to spell it out.
There are many stories that will be coming out, that have to be told.
Keep indoors, keep washing those hands and wear your masks – whether it is home-made or otherwise. This is far from over.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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