Nothing will change in Guyana-worse is in store

Oct 31, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News – Freddie Kissoon’s Oct 28, 2022 “Monkey banana and the contempt GTT has for this nation,” symbolises Guyana. Guyana, exclusive of the ‘fortunate few,’ remains, and will remain a ‘run-down’ ghetto-like nation. What I have to say is true, and it is symptomatic of the land.

My wife and I were the first to be attended to one morning at the Guyana Bank for Trade & Industry Ltd. (GBTI). The encounter started around 8:15 and we left around 11:45. I mean this ‘little’ business of ours lasted well over three hours. What was it?

We coalesced our accounts, and this was after we did call the day before, and came in armed with the ‘required’ documents. Coincidentally, I was at the bank some months later, and a client, having not used his account for close to two years, was denied his withdrawal, since the account lapsed into dormancy. Reason for not being able to access his funds – he must show ‘fresh’ proof of address, even if this means, according to the clerk, self-posting’ a letter.

Internationally, the norm is so easy and it is done online what is needed is a submitting of the request for activation of the account through internet banking via a visiting to the website of the bank. Then follows a login to Internet Banking, using User ID and password. This leads to ‘Go to Service Request section and Requesting for Reactivating the account. One can also utilise ‘Calling the Customer Care Number’ of the bank and requesting ‘reactivating the account’ and proceeding.

So, Freddie Kissoon and the host of others (outside the elected few), will enter their seventies, 50 years from now, and nothing will improve. Regarding GTT, it is not about whether or not they care, it is a ‘cultural and national’ phenomenon, permanently etched on the landscape. By the way, I received a Police Clearance from the UK far quicker than I did for the one from Guyana, and it was done in a far easier manner. The same is true regarding my driver’s licence from the UK.

Here is another.

There is a popular Chinese mall at the Lusignan Main and Public Road junction. The in-store tiny space is so congested that walking single file down the aisles is a challenge. There is no ‘cooling system’ and the place reeks of heat and sweat. The store has no lunch room for the few East Indian employees who labour for a pittance for more than 12 hours per day. These girls are so poor, they need the money and so will not ask for their legal overtime. Add to this the selling and imbibing of alcohol on the premises all day. This store hives no receipt and there is no guarantee that items can be returned.

I have to concur that “This is a banana republic and banana republics are shambolic systems of existence.”

The true Guyana is seen when we loll at how our garbage collectors are treated. They sit on the garble and use their body weight to compress the load. The garbage, comprising rotten food, oozes and smalls, and is being carried in open back tractor trailers and trucks. I am yet to see the President and Nigel Dharamlall ‘fetting’ in these open back garbage collectors. That will be the day! Then I can say that he and his ministers are merging well with the ordinary folks, and that we are heading for a ‘One Guyana.’

So, editor and reader’s, I am saying it yet again. If there will be changes, they will be for the worse. The best bet is to hope that the US embassy grants visa-free travel, so that Guyanese can ‘escape’ the feculence for a spell and earn some money. They deserve some ‘nice living’ and that is most evanescent in Guyana.

Yours truly,

Deodat Singh

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