Guyana, oh lovely Guyana

Aug 06, 2025 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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Hard Truths by GHK Lall

Kaieteur News – It’s the most wonderful time of time of the year.  Christmas is.  So too, elections in Guyana, with 2025 staggering the senses.  I turn left and it’s bright.  Look down and its beautiful.  Open the papers, and the good times roll merrily along.  Thanks, Dr. Jagdeo, for the good developments, what promises to be grand times.  Amidst this cascade of goodness, PPP leadership benevolence and goodness, there’s a challenge.  Where to start?  Roads are plenty, since they are the signature calling of Minister of Public Works, Bharrat Jagdeo.  Move over, bishop; make way for the real deal.

I drive along the streets of GT, and there are these fresh mounds of excavated earth on the side.  The last time I came face-to-face with a Caterpillar or a bulldozer or an excavator was in Peoria, Illinois.  Now, they dot the scenery in GT.  The roads are newly smoothed, like a sweetly ironed white shirt.  Not a wrinkle, not a bubble, or stray thread out of place.  If that is not care and compassion, not progress, then go shout it to the world, there never will be.  I invite Marco Rubio to return to Guyana, especially GT, and give his judgement then.  Let’s see what has to eat crow, Rubio or Jagdeo.  I am perplexed, if its Christmas, then I am missing the carols.  It is likely that the PPP of Jagdeo and the tireless AG have finally made up their minds to confront the sacred private sector and did something about the chronic noise nuisance menace.  Thanks, Mr. Jagdeo; though Christmas carols are never offensive to me, regardless of the decibel levels.

I look down, and the drains in the city (some of them) have been given a facelift.  Silt removed.  Water all the way to the bottom.  The smells reduced, the clarity of the water inviting on these scorching Guyana days.  Clear as a bell, and as clean as the imagination allows.  The GWI is in for some competition, and since it is the season of elections, expectations run high.  I look down and I can see it all around.  Things are looking up.  If the last few weeks alone could continue indefinitely, then the dismal record of the last five years would be easily forgotten.  A figment of overreaction, a product of opposition malevolence.

If I were to get carried away and call the Office of the President, or walk into any government office, even venture near Freedom House, I am certain that the reception would be one reserved for King Charles or Donald Trump.  The problem is that, occasionally, I carry things too far.  Nevertheless, only a Philistine or an incorrigible pagan could look at GT today, the enhancements of the last few weeks, and not see the light.  Thanks, Mr. Jagdeo.  Sorry, Mayor Mentore, and whoever is the Local Government Minister.  Bottom line: if Jagdeo doesn’t bark, get it done, it isn’t done.  I know how my bread is buttered, and who is responsible for it, so I do my duty.

Then some more light came.  In the bleak darkness that saturates Guyana, came the late-breaking news.  An agreement between the GPL and Inter-Energy of the Dominican Republic.  A better GPL.  A better product coming out of it.  The same thing was heard about the Ottomans and their powerboats, let there be light.  From Istanbul, once a world power, to the Caribbean Sea, and a place called the Dominican Republic, which I had trouble deciding if it had so much as a generator.  But if Dr. Jagdeo said that they are up to the job, then that’s good enough for me.  The trouble starts when I question the kind of job that he has in mind.  Prime Minister Mark Phillips should be the Field Marshall on this one, but the way I see it, that honorable citizen has either been consigned to the vicinity of the stockade, or he took his own discharge.  In the army, that’s called AWOL (A waltz of leisure).  And to that I add political luxuries.

All these developments, these sweet announcements, involving nice millions in July, with elections rushing in from over the horizon.  Something tells me that the PPP is running low on campaign funds.  Spending in the millions opens the door to self-help by sweet fractions of those enticing sums.  Guyanese know by now how much Christmas means to me, but I’ll take elections every day, if this is how the city and country are treated by Dr. Jagdeo and the PPP Government.  No naysaying about corruption, nor ulterior motives, nor dirty tricks relative to keeping the Guyanese people informed.  Can’t expect ham and eggs without casualties on the farm.  It’s a small price to pay, and I’m converted.  Elections! Oh, how lovely is Guyana.  It’s goodbye coming to America.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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• Bharrat Jagdeo, Elections, GHK Lall, Guyana

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