Suffering and humiliation

Aug 30, 2020 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Some people were born with “gold spoons in their mouths”. They are rich and comfortable. They do not have a care in the world.
The pandemic has come and when it is gone, it will not make a big difference to them. They would have enjoyed all the fancy food and drinks during the pandemic.
But the same cannot be said for Guyanese who had to endure five months of suffering. There are some persons who went without food for many of those 155 days.
In an earlier column, I related the story of man who was going from one construction site to the other, begging for work. He had no money and the COVID had affected his ability to put food on the table.
He ended up at one site and even though there were no vacancies, the man in charge was so moved by this man’s plight that he gave him a job. The man put all the rest of workers to shame. He worked his butt off so much so that the other workers had to plead with him to slow down. He was desperate to ensure that he would be retained for the week.
Another man was not able to feed his family for three months. His wife brought home food items every night. She told him she was going by a good friend who was helping her… if you know what I mean?
Those who feel it, know it. When the President of Guyana said that people were starving during the past five months, some people found that funny. Their bread was well-buttered but not everyone was so lucky. Thousands did not have it easy.
Persons suffered because of the rank dishonesty of a few individuals. There was a conspiracy to rig the elections and this conspiracy involved masterminds. These masterminds must face justice because they not only instigated the breaking of the law but their actions caused immense suffering.
Yesterday, three persons died from complications of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The low rate of testing meant that the virus was percolating throughout the society all the while. In the meantime, only persons who were showing symptoms were being tested. Now that asymptomatic persons are also being tested and testing has been ratcheted-up, the true scale of the outbreak is being revealed. This is the outgoing present which the former regime left for the new government.
Except that it is not the government which is bearing the grief, pain and suffering. It is the ordinary citizens, many of whom are going to die given the numbers which are now testing positive. Over the past few days, almost one in every four persons tested were positive. This is a frightening statistics.
When people play politics with peoples’ lives, this is what happens. The APNU+AFC played politics with the pandemic and today the people are reaping the misfortune.
The APNU+AFC was more interested in seizing power fraudulently than they were in addressing the pandemic. And in their greed to hold on to power, they jeopardized people’s lives. The attempted rigging led to a crisis, which forestalled the passage of a Budget which could have provided help for those not working. Nor could international funds be mobilized to provide assistance. Testing kits could not be sourced on a large scale because the government was deemed illegitimate by the international community.
As such, the fight against the pandemic was hamstrung. Now the numbers have gone through the roof and people are dying at a quicker rate.
This is why there should be no sympathy for electoral bandits. They must face the consequences of their actions. Every one of them; none should be spared.
Who will comfort the loved ones of those persons who are dying because the virus was allowed to spread unchecked. Who will remove the humiliation of a father or mother who could not put a decent meal on their table? He who feels it, knows it. Does anyone appreciate the humiliation, which a parent faces not being able to provide for their children?
Those with gold spoons in their mouths have no such experience. And they never will.
All those who were involved in criminal acts to rig the elections must face the courts. Anything short of that is unacceptable.
There should be no sympathy for the perpetrators of electoral fraud. The best resources must be mobilized to investigate and prosecute those involved. If needs be, hire the best investigators and prosecutors. No stone must be left unturned to bring to justice to those conspired to steal the elections.
Those guilty must spend Christmas in jail eating jail-bread and drinking ginger beer. That would be much better than what some people had on some days over the past five months.

(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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