Latest update June 4th, 2026 12:30 AM
Adriana – no dignity, not even in death
Editorial…
Kaieteur News- A famous saying that grows richer the more often it is repeated is “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” We at this paper also think that the more men come into money, the more their minds get befuddled, the more they lose their bearings. A little girl died in mysterious circumstances, and politicians are quibbling, playing their usual tricky, self-serving games. The memory of Adriana Younge sears over how her life was extinguished. When the responsible is expected, the discreditable surfaces.
This country has fallen so far, that it may be past the point of salvaging. Unquestionably, those now in charge do not even have the basics on how to comport themselves in a period of loss. A period that has provoked national outcries, and while the family is still struggling to make sense of the fate that has befallen their little girl, and they the survivor relatives. Many Guyanese are ashamed of what has happened almost on the heels of the discovered lifeless body of Adriana Younge, and then after the instruments of discovery went to work on her last Monday. It is of two days that will go down in infamy in this country.
An attempt at coverup was the first action from those who are the nation’s protectors, the leading agents for the finding of facts, what really happened. Commonsense emphasizes that it could not have been the first such coverup when other situations developed. But this is Guyana, where there is covering up, instead of drilling down to get to the truth in a matter that all would like to forget, pretend didn’t happen. And just maybe, that it was all a hoax, or a product of the imagination. When the community erupted in public rage and public protest, President Ali dropped what he was doing and shared his presence and sympathy with the grieving family. This is what presidents do in a crisis situation, and what happened in Tuschen to that 11-year-old child, brought out the positive side in Guyana’s president. He showed that he had some light still left in him. But there is uncertainty about that, given what he then proceeded to do, not too long afterward.
Unfortunately, the national leader in a period of national trauma went down the usual slippery track that is now so much a part of the national culture. He found the time to record his conclusion that the protests had elements of what is “politically instigated.” We have trouble determining how any of that helps a situation that is raw and distrusting. In the height of a crisis, the last area that presidents should cast their minds to is politics. But this is the caliber of national leadership that Guyanese witness day in and day out. Citizens are fast losing hope on even the most routine of issues, and when the heavily freighted hangs over the nation, then the last dregs are lost, given national leadership reactions.
The opposition made cooing statements, and that was the sum of its efforts. Unsurprisingly, when the protests for Adriana expanded, they were lacking in the type of leadership most necessary on those occasions. The opposition is apparently content to be a shadow and a bystander in the big developments in Guyana (social, oil, economics, and more). When leadership of a trusted and persuasive quality is needed, the last place that Guyanese now look to is the political opposition. It is present, but it is too caught up in its mixed-up priorities to sign the attendance register. When Guyanese need leadership on their wealth, and a death that has stealth written all across it, they have no choice but to take comfort in the handful of lone voices standing against the tide.
What citizens end up with, is being trapped in the endless quarreling and finger pointing. Even in death and loss, the survivors and nation are visited by these leadership indignities. There is a postmortem report to cut through, with the political battling now just beginning. The fires and looting need an owner, so one must be found. It’s the same Guyana in life and in death. Guyanese are the most resilient people to put up with this trash.
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