Desperation

Oct 16, 2023 Letters

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Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News – Juanita Gomes is desperate. She went through hell to get a Canadian visa. Look at what she ‘willingly’ put up with at the VFS “office” on Water Street for her ‘ticket’ to paradise, her Canadian visa:

1. Inappropriate location in a desolate section of Water Street.
2. Locked door with inadequate signage or instruction.
3. No shade or cover while you wait for the door to open.
4. Unpleasant door manners by security staff (when door eventually opens).
5. Insufficient space in the “office” for the conduct of personal matters.
6. Poorly attired staff with limited training on customer interaction.
7. Requests for documents which are not asked for by the Canadian Visa Office.
8. Ridicule if documents are not as expected. Wow!!!!

Yet she manifests a deranged mentality. She says that “It fills my heart with great joy to be able declare my Guyanese identity with pride. For so long we had been disrespected and treated like diseased people even by our closest neighbours. Now, I am proud to hold up my Guyana passport and gloat to those previous disdainers. That was until I had the unfortunate need to visit the VFS “office” on Water Street for a Canadian visa. Let me state categorically that I have no intention of migrating permanently to Canada. While that country boasts a high standard of living, Guyana is where I belong.”

My question is quite obvious: Are you making sense?  Therefore, my suggestions are: Never go to Canada; and Encourage your family to come reside in your Guyana (or visit you here).

Editor, Freddie Kissoon sings this lonely song too, and it is on behalf of the lonely few, who all seem to be of a contradictory nature and practice.

In “The contempt of Western embassies in Guyana” (Freddie Kissoon-October 13, 2023) Freddie rehashes of his outpouring, as he himself pointed out (1- Tuesday, September 20, 2022, “The British High Commission in Guyana must be more respectful.” 2- Wednesday, September 21, 2022, “The President needs to know about the Canadian visa.” 3- Thursday, September 22, 2022, “What British High Commissioner told Timothy Tucker is wrong.” 4- Friday, September 23, 2022 “People live in mortal fear of the US, UK, Canadian diplomats in Guyana.” 5- Tuesday, October 11, 2022, “The visa delivery service of the UK, Canada and other embassies in Guyana.” 6- Thursday, November 10, 2022, “For three years the US Embassy in Guyana did not exist.” 7- Wednesday, December 14, 2022, “Visa free travel: A nation’s psychological mess.”

Now to Freddie Kissoon, I point out to him what was detailed in “The torpidity of Freddie Kissoon! ( Oct 14, 2022 ) by H. Singh.

1. Singh verbatim: “First, I emphasized that Freddie Kissoon is not the consensus voice on this matter. He has no support in terms of numbers, nor from prominent figures. All embassies of major countries have their ‘rules’ pertaining to visas. For example, there is no US Embassy or Consulate in Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Then Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla and Barbados, etc., are all in the same category as Guyana, in terms of how and where to get Canadian visas. Freddie bawls out as though Guyana has been singled out by some countries for uncivilized and illegal treatment. This is not so. Even if this were so, Guyanese, by the thousands, will still leave this shore for North America and Europe. I add that it is normal for super nations to have their visa application centres within various jurisdictions, and not ‘here, there and everywhere.’

It is neither logical nor economical. Simple logistics will suggest that ‘visa issuing’ offices be strategically located, and not one in every country.

Secondly, I proffer a reason for people’s desperation for the unquenchable desire to leave Guyana; there are many factors, but I will highlight just a ‘Freddie’ one.

Readers, in “The population’s disrespect for the police is at the lowest in the country’s history (Jun 22, 2011)” Freddie Kissoon belligerently wrote that “I lived under the reign of the PNC from the domination of President Burnham to the attempts at democratic resuscitation under President Desmond Hoyte. At no time since Independence has the citizens’ lack of confidence in and their supportive attitude for the police been as low as it is today.” Who was ruling? Who was responsible?

He elaborated that “Even in the period of breakdown between 1981 to the death of Mr. Burnham in August 1985, has the contempt and disdain for the police by the citizenry ever become as dismal as to what it is now.”

Now it gets really juicy: “I am not going to live in this country and fool the younger generation that President Burnham was the worst leader this country produced. He was not … but when it came to nationalist principles and certain philosophical values, Mr. Burnham towers above the present PPP leaders, without exception.”

Back then (PNC era), Freddie opined that “The Guyana Police Force did not descend to the level of mediocrity, self-humiliation and disrespect that we see in this country today. It is my honest opinion that Guyanese view the police force as an unprofessional body, led by politically abusive politicians, doing unsavoury things for those politicians.”

Let me refrain from getting redundant on this topic. My question is who is in charge of whom? What has changed?

That is at least a big factor that drives people away from Guyana, ‘no matter’ the price they pay for leaving, and then again for living in Canada and the USA.

By the way, does Guyana have a functional and reliable 911? Do citizens still report noise pollution? Are traffic issues still ‘negotiated’ on the roadside?

I rest my case, by repeating to Juanita and Freddie, that should easy permanent visas be granted to Guyanese, Guyana will be ‘emptied.’

Yours truly,
Prescott Mann

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• ‘willingly, Anguilla and Barbados, Freddie Kissoon, Guyana, Then Antigua and Barbuda

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