On the seawall, Friday morning: This is what Guyana has become

Feb 13, 2021 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Kaieteur News – What I describe below is not something that should surprise you. This is the nature of Guyanese. This is what the people of this country have become. I once wrote that I am truly amazed at the huge number of luxury cars I see entering Giftland and Massy Supermarket when I am walking my dog. I take my dog to those two places quite often.
As I look at these people, complete amusement takes over my soul because I know they have everything outside but nothing inside. Now here is what I saw on the Eve Leary seawall at 9am yesterday. I was on the wall itself and the dog was ahead of me. When I reached the section of the Eve Leary Police Station, which is where the finger print department is (not on Camp Road but directly on the seawall road), the dog stopped to smell under an almond tree.
On the road was parked a car that I took no notice of. As I monitored my dog, a well-dressed Indian young lady, opened the front passenger door, and laid on the side of the road, against the wall, a black plastic bag with garbage including bottles that sounded as if they broke when she threw them away.
Looking back at my dog, she was quite settled under the tree and I put my face in full view of the car while standing on the wall. There was a neatly dressed Indian man at the wheel. I gesticulated with my hand with anger on my face, yelling to them to pick it up. I saw the licence plate. This was one of the most expensive European model vehicles in Guyana.
I cannot publish the number because the guy will sue. The police have surveillance cameras at the “Bandstand” that look eastwards. So the police video would have captured the licence number. His wife or his girlfriend threw garbage on the roadway opposite a place you don’t dare do that – the head office of the CID, and if I cite the licence plate number, he will sue. As day passes into night, this guy will file a libel writ.
I insisted that these philistines, who were all dressed up in luxury clothing retrieve their garbage. There was no movement in the vehicle except the driver kept waving to me with an intestinal yet idiotic smile on his face. My gesticulation intensified. If they got violent with me, the police were yards away. If they drove off, I was driving behind them while dialing 911.
The young woman opened the door and picked up her thrash. They drove off. These are the people that buy luxury goods, drive luxury vehicle, live in luxurious houses but they haven’t got a soul. These are the soulless people of Guyana. But they are not an isolated couple. This is the level of degeneration that has occurred in Guyana, since the Walter Rodney revolution ended in his assassination.
My generation grew up in Guyana with the myths that the lower income classes behave this way. My generation would have argued that throwing garbage on the road is a nasty habit you find among the people of depressed areas, low-income districts and poor rural folks. Those who still think so are fools. For each crazy, uncouth mini-bus driver, you see on the roadway, there is a corresponding maniac in a private car with a white-collar job or immense family wealth.
Don’t fool yourself to think this is the way the people from south Georgetown, south of Brickdam behave. This is the way Guyanese in general behave. I have seen well-to-do people park on the seawall road, west of Camp Road. between Camp Road and the Kitty pump station and they make it difficult for you to pass – the seawall road is narrow. Yet there is a huge parapet on the seawall road to park on. Yes, I have seen the “low life types” do just that on the seawall road but I have seen the fools from the middle and upper classes do that too.
So I guess when Valentine’s Day come around that couple I saw will be buying gold jewellery that will cost more than the gold bracelet David Patterson got as a gift from his own ministry workers. And as the woman opens the package to gloss over the mesmerizing, glamorous item, she will just toss the box out the window. That night they will dine at the Marriott Hotel. God is dead, Marx is dead, Gandhi is dead, Mandela is dead and Guyana is dying.

(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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