Today’s Guyana: the woes of blackouts and GPL’s incompetence

Apr 04, 2024 Letters

---

Dear Editor,

On Easter Sunday, I accompanied my wife to a very uplifting Easter Sunday Service at St. Sidwell’s Church in Lodge, beautifully and artfully conducted by Reverend Father Alves.

Returning home to avoid any semblance of dotage or boredom, I had Dr. Jennifer Basdeo Green read for me excerpts from a bit of literature I hadn’t looked at over 70 years. It was Charles Dickens, a Tale of two cities. The literary work alluded to the social and economic disparities that supplied the energy for the French revolution and conditions in England. The French aristocracy showed disdain and disregard for the ordinary folks.

On Saturday after attending a farewell service at Merriman’s Funeral Home, I journeyed to Spicy Dish where I met a group of citizens including representatives from the St. Thomas Moore Old Student Association and two retired US military Officers. The conversation was energised when I related that on Good Friday, I was out of GPL power for three hours, from about 6:45 pm. The comrades who had gathered said I was lucky because in one area, they had an outage in excess of five hours, causing them to have a damaged electric kettle and to cook or dispose of meat from their refrigerator.

All this is happening when our Head of State, Commander in Chief with pomposity proclaims that we are the fastest growing economy in the world and indeed this is so. This letter is to seek deliverance as I observe a parallel between Dickens’ Tale of two Cities and the disparities extant in the Co-operative Republic of Guyana. Our President and his top brass have assured us that they are wedded to the higher principles of transparency and that the oracles who speak to us through a well-funded, well-oiled propaganda machine are wedded to the truth. Truth, notwithstanding the appearance that in today’s Guyana, truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth seems to be an alien concept. So with the woes of blackouts due to either generator capacity, transmission problems or share incompetence, I don’t know, but last year, we were promised by the Head of State that by Christmas 2023, there would be a reliable supply of electricity.

I ask the following as a simple person

• Who or which Agency recommended the acquisition /supply of these recent

acquired generators?

• How much did that advice /recommendation offered cost us?
• What is the cost of each and every generator unit?
• Were these units (as we say) brand new, and if new, date and place of

manufacture and was there any warranty?

• If not new, were they reconditioned, second-hand and if reconditioned, which reputable group or agency certifies its efficiency and effectiveness?
• Was there an Agency involved in the whole transaction, if so, what are the fees?
• Where are these units located?
• What maintenance procedures are in place to ensure that the units perform to their optimum?
• Finally, is the Government satisfied that they put in charge of this vital sector the best qualified persons available? The majority of Guyanese are entitled to clear truthful answers.

Dear Editor, I am happy to announce that I am three hundred Guyana dollars richer because I made a wager with a friend in Region 10 that the Bamia school will not be completed and ready for use as promised in a public statement by the PPP Administration on April 1, 2024. Our zest and All Fool’s Day joke.

Today, there was a quartet at a windowless school building as the spending spree continues unabated.  The question of quality material and workmanship is of course another matter. Another example of our Government’s spending spree. The other bet was to ask the Minister of Housing to explain how six months ago, they publicly stated that 47% of houses and houselots were allocated to Afro-Guyanese. The question is where is the data to support this public proclamation? This has not yet been supplied with the source and methodology used to arrive at this percentage.

My other hundred-dollar bet was the completion of the road that runs through between Sussex Street and Princes Street, which should have been completed in the first quarter of the year. This is another jumbie story. Incidentally, as I dictate this letter at 12:14 hours, we lost electricity. Hail to the Chief. I am copying this letter to two top Advisors to the President and Government, Jerry Gouveia and Kit Nascimento. Both in spite of the present cleavage, I consider to be good, genuine Guyanese concerned about the plight of ordinary folks and would help to change things.

Regards,

Hamilton Green

Elder

---

• blackouts, Hamilton Green, incompetence, Lodge, St. Sidwell's Church

---