Beef police, ship caterers,

Oct 23, 2022 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

Kaieteur News – We can all agree that things ‘baad’ for many people in Guyana. I think also that there is little disagreement that we have some ‘baad’ people here. This is what came to mind with this strange story about members of the police and beef in Berbice. For the same police ranks to be involved in one cow story (runnin’ cow) is bad enough, but two within the space of a couple of hours pushes matters too far.

The ranks version is that they were going to lodge the beef as ‘exhibit’ which makes this caper harder to swallow. It is beyond my powers to figure out what they had in mind for that second animal on a bad cow day. All this caused some uneasiness on my part, since it would encourage greatly to observe police ranks manifesting the same initiative, the same energy, and the same wisdom when they deal with victims of crime. Human ones, that is. Further, I was a shade surprised at the first words from Commander Bacchus, which were “…they want to embarrass us.” I asked myself who the “they” were in this saga involving sirloin, steak, and sinew, and if he was referring to the ever-alert media for things like these, meaning, this newspaper. It was comforting to gather that Commander Bacchus meant his ecstatic and energetic subordinates. Incidentally, the beef loving ranks did not do themselves any favours when they left alone some of the choicer and richer parts of roadside carcass. Meaning, what is called the ‘sweetbread’ or more commonly the organs. I suggest that the police nutritionist educate them about the benefits of cow’s liver, and the chicken-like pluses of the kidneys and so forth. It is eating tasty red meat with white meat safety and serenity. How wrong can one get? I suppose that this is now left to the tender mercies of the internal GPF disciplinary codes.

Then, I read that the PPP Government has plans for 100 local caterers to supply oil ships. On the surface, it is a good thing, and I commend the people behind this thinking from the President down. The benefits are plentiful: jobs, earnings, profits, taxes, local content participation. I like it. Unfortunately, there is another side to this coin, and it is a disturbing one, which I think even PPP extremists and fundamentalists would agree with me. This cohort of 100 caterers are going to need and use a lot of supplies for what they put on the table of the foreigners (and few locals) on those oil ships. This is compounded by the fact that there may be more oil ships out there than we know, or about the true total of which the PPP Government has decided it is best to be mum. Third, given the needs of that consortium of a hundred caterers, the elements of demand and supply in the local environment have their part to contribute. Guyanese buyers, none more than the strapped mothers, wives, and partners, know what it is like to be dealing with the crushing reality of ever-rising prices. In short, there is nothing to like.

Thus, fourth, with the unerring logic of 100 caterers having to get more and buy more to deliver on their oil ship commitments, means that prices in the markets, supermarkets, open air markets, all would now resemble blackmarket prices. Who can afford to buy, will buy; while those who can’t, they will have no choice but to wait for President Ali to make his now pending, and overdue, Christmas rounds to share out some more cash goodies from his big, deep taxpayers’ moneybag. At the risk of ruffling His Excellency, I humbly remind him that that is not his money, but the people’s cash that he returns to them, though he makes it look and sound, as if it is otherwise. Last, I trust that sharp and sensible Guyanese see the parallel between what the North Americans and Europeans do when they exploit poor Third World countries, and then make speeches about giving back aid and grants, and so forth. At bottom, this handout and sharing out business is one big racket. Meanwhile, caterers get to clap, while cornered citizens continue to cry.

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