The two most ironic moments in world history took place in Guyana in 2022

May 29, 2022 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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Kaieteur News – The first moment was the fight against the oil company to have it accept local content. The legislation was passed after insane pursuits by the business community and the society in general.
The second moment was the agricultural and investment forum held last week. Both the local content demand and the agricultural forum constitute the two most ironic moments in any country since the world began. Please see my two previous columns on the psychological attitude against buying local products by this psychologically ill-shaped nationality named Guyanese – Friday 25, 2021, “Do Guyanese buy locally produced items?” and Friday, February 6, 2021, “Café Pele: The incredible return of colonial mentality in Guyana.”
So will the recent legislation that introduces the requirement of local content in the oil industry and the hugely successful agricultural exhibition see an attitudinal metamorphosis (that term was first used by president Forbes Burnham four decades ago) among Guyanese? I doubt it.
I go into Massy Supermarket and Giftland Supermarket and when I see what are in shoppers’ trolleys, the penetration of angst is deep. Lower middle folks, middle class people, upper middle class citizens and the petty bourgeois do not buy local items. You have to see what are in those trolleys to believe how far gone is the psychic demise of this nation.
It is one of the saddest things to see in this country. It is a manifestation of a wasteland in the 21st century. For the politicians who rule this country, for the politicians who want to have power in the future, for the local manufacturers who stay here and hope to survive then go into the supermarkets and see what Guyanese buy.
Do you know that guava is one of the healthiest fruits in food science? Do you know guava is a fruit that makes the best jams and jellies? Can you compare other fruits? Let’s see: pine, apple, grape, strawberry, blackberry, etc. They don’t come close to the fragrance of guava. Only low income folks buy guava jams and jellies. Guyanese love the imported ones.
I stood next to a man in a dapper shirtjac. After living so long in the world, you tend to know when a person is a security rank. He took a two pound packet of imported salmon to the pharmacy in Massy Supermarket to get the price. The pharmacy is located next to the seafood section. Both are located at the back part of the supermarket. The price scanner at the pharmacy is not working so if you want to know the price of an item, you have to walk all the way to the front cashier.
He greeted me with an intestinal smile and said he always wanted to talk to me. He was friendly and I reciprocated the humbleness. With an oceanic smile on my face I asked why he was buying foreign fish when healthier ones and more delicious ones like gilbakka are from Guyana. Imported seafood and meats carry preservatives that are not healthy.
He said it was his boss that sent him for the stuff. So I was right. He was a security person. But I know my country. I thought for a moment he was in the service of the oil company so my curiosity persisted. I asked if his employer was Guyanese and indeed he was. The salmon cost $22,000 and one of civilisations misfits bought it.
The agricultural forum where some fantastic local items were on display will not make an ounce of difference because the local content legislation did not. How long did we have the Act? Months now, and from what I see in those supermarkets, there was no attitudinal metamorphosis.
I am saying boldly and unapologetically, I don’t believe the tiers of middle class society and the petty bourgeoisie in this country that are now benefitting from local content patronage from the oil company will change their ways and support Guyanese manufacturers. It is a mental thing.
Here is a piece of advice for researchers. If you want to see the mental transformation of this country from the seventies where local products were more appreciated and now in the 21st century get on friendly terms with the supermarket cashiers. What they tell you will create a deluge of tormenting pessimism into your soul.
Those cashiers on a daily basis see the mental horizon of thousands of Guyanese each month and how corrugated those horizons are. You can ask my wife and daughter when you see them – I only buy and eat chocolate that is made in a sister CARICOM country, Jamaica that is good as any elsewhere. Please Guyanese – take your mind out of the gutter!
(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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