The Caesars, The Citizens, and Entertainment Shows

Jul 23, 2024 Letters

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Dear Editor,

The Roman Empire was one of the most successful in ancient history, through its military tactics, advanced science, economics, agriculture, education, construction, astrology, etc. Their leaders were called Caesars, the good Caesars were able to achieve all this greatness in their empire by consulting with their qualified senators, military leaders, and leaders among their citizens before making governing decisions.

The subsequent bad Caesars began the decimation of the empire by becoming greedy and corrupt and directed the empire’s resources for their own personal lifestyle. When the citizens began to show dissent, due to poor governance, Caesar came up with the idea of building coliseums to host gladiator shows to distract the citizens from the poor governance of the Caesar. This tactic worked well for the poor governing Caesar, the citizens’ attention shifted to the gladiator shows and the dissenting voices against Caesar were subdued. However since the incompetent Caesars were no longer held accountable for poor governance, the Roman Empire subsequently crumbled under them.

In Guyana, the big show of the plundering of Guyana’s oil, gold, and other resource wealth is ongoing. The plunderers along with their local enablers are doing their very best to distract Guyanese from watching this plundering show. Just like foreign exploiters under the disguise of “foreign investors” from all over the globe lining up for a piece of Guyana, sports and music entertainers from all over the globe also want to come to entertain Guyanese with their shows. This is working brilliantly for the sellout leaders as Guyanese only talk about these shows more than the plundering of Guyana and not holding leaders accountable. And of course, who can leave out cricket?, cricket being Guyana’s flagship sport will always be in the conversation now with a twist as it now carries ExxonMobil’s logo. Just like the Roman Caesars building coliseums for gladiator shows to distract dissent against them, the cricket stadium in Berbice is now a shout-out from the PPP and ExxonMobil of the progress Guyana is making since ExxonMobil came to Guyana, not the uplifting of Guyanese from poverty from their country’s oil wealth. Guyanese will talk about cricket and music but not about Exxon’s inflated bills, ring-fencing oil projects, or getting more royalties, profit share, and taxes from future oil projects along with full parent company guarantee liability insurance for oil spills if they occur. There are also the propaganda shows called press conferences by the political parties trying to woo Guyanese votes for the next elections, all nonsense and nothing of substance from the speakers in this oil and resource-rich country, one would laugh at the comedy if the implications of these MPs plan for Guyana were not so detrimental to Guyana and Guyanese.

VP Jagdeo says his government is making plans to avoid the Dutch Disease or Resource Curse, his plans do not include renegotiation of oil and resource contracts, ring fencing, taxes, royalties, and auditing inflated bills, VP Jagdeo along with President Ali however have a super weapon against the Dutch Disease, which is producing cassava. The opposition says the number one enemy of Guyana is GEOCOM and its staff, not the foreigners with their local collaborators who are plundering Guyana’s oil and resources. Nothing is wrong with sports and music, it has always been part of Guyanese daily living, this however should be secondary to the primary issues Guyanese face daily like affordable food, clothes, shelter, transportation, available clean water, reliable electricity, adequate healthcare, high-quality education, peace and security, strong and long-lasting infrastructure and excellent conduct and accountability from those in leadership positions.

All these things are within Guyanese grasp if only they can put aside shows for a moment and fight for their rightful share of their own country’s wealth. Countries that lead in advanced sports and music programmes also take care of the primary issues for their citizens, fully well knowing there are also careers to be made from sports and music. How can Guyanese partake in sports and music with hungry bellies along while not being able to purchase tickets, food, or refreshments at these shows? The Finance Minister of the previous government has now become a tax expert on podcast shows explaining how taxes are important for a country since the sanctioning of Mohamed’s Enterprises for tax evasion, however, he has yet to say why he waived ExxonMobil’s taxes since taxes are so important for Guyana.

Guyana’s local oil Caesar says he could always leave Guyana politics and do private business, but Guyana politics is where he belongs, apparently he didn’t give away enough of Guyana’s 83000 square miles as president, so he is back to finish the job, he called this give away “attracting foreign investment”, all Guyanese get from this “foreign investment” is debt and poverty.  The VP also says his government is managing inflation better than most countries, yet he is only leader that manages inflation with taking on debt and giving tax concessions to foreign oil and resource companies while the opposition plans to manage inflation does not include more money from Guyana’s oil and resources. Guyana’s foreign Caesar Alistair Rutledge doesn’t want to update Guyanese on new oil finds, he seems to have also convinced his minions in parliament to keep this secret as well, fully well knowing new oil finds will unleash the forbidden word “renegotiation”. Instead, Caesar Rutledge just like the Roman Caesars building coliseums to distract their citizens, went to Berbice to promote ExxonMobil’s heavenly gift to Guyanese, a cricket stadium built most likely by Guyanese own oil money or debt on Guyanese backs.

With all this happening, all the MPs regardless of their political party who represent their constituents stay silent, they fully well know whether their parties win or lose, most will remain as MPs with their salaries, pension, and perks, so they don’t want to be fired by their party leadership for bringing up critical issues about oil and resources. Whenever you hear these Guyanese MPs speak, it’s so much bewildering nonsense, only calling the name of God can give one some sanctity. The shows that distract Guyanese from the plundering of their country’s wealth continue, like TV shows for those lucky to have TV and electricity, the clown shows by the political parties continue, and Guyanese are already enthusiastic about the next big concert which is already being advertised, there Guyanese will wine and gyrate to performing artists while the foreigners wine and gyrate carrying away the Guyana’s wealth. It is time Guyanese become enthusiastic about shows that expose the plundering of their country, like the Glenn Lall Show and other shows with similar content, and take the necessary action required to save their country and themselves.

Sincerely,

R. David

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• agriculture, economics, Military, R. David., tactics

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