Another picture of Guyana’s tale of two countries

Jan 27, 2026 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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(Kaieteur News) – It could be rightly called Guyana’s version of a tale of two cities.  Or, so that it is much easier to appreciate, I give Guyanese a new image of the haves and have nots.  It is stark.  Just look at the waistline of those who have it good.  Then study that of those scrambling to put together the next barebones meal.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the dividing line, the mark of distinction, in Guyana, is a good-sized encyclopedia.

In the grand, grim tale of two Guyana(s), the waistline is the headline.  The rich and powerful have bellies that indicate the opulence of the harvests seized and enjoyed from this nation’s oil wealth, with very few participating.  This smart set is also about insiders and the connected in the free-for-all in the penthouses of Guyanese society.  Government ministers.  Senior public servants, those specially selected.  Then, there is the overstuffed contractor class alongside the private sector aristocracy.  They are mostly big-bellied, potbellied, and exhibiting roly-poly beer bellies.  Those who think that’s the end of the story, the picture ended there, it is now getting started.

Take a look at the leaders’ faces, and those they have under the boot.  In addition to distended bellies, their faces are fleshy, jowly, shiny, and sweaty.  Good living at the taxpayers’ expense is the best kept secret and ace that cannot be out-trumped.  It is unexplained wealth of a substantial variety that’s neither mystery nor secret.  The swollen bellies cannot be hidden, with nothing covert about that condition.  Political incest has to be hidden.  Imbibing to excess and overindulging to the point of obesity are not against the law, constitution, or good governance.  Gorging off the rich fat of the land, and getting fat from it, is not crime.  A health issue, but not a misdemeanor in the scrolls of the law.  These are of elected and selected powers in Guyana with a king-size subway sandwich in one hand, a 32-oz steak in the other, and a lobster firmly fastened between the teeth.  Their well-filled, well-visited tumblers of beverages are nearby.  These bulky grandees and the slightly less robust grand duchesses are exemplary with their lifestyles that glow with personal prosperity, while Guyanese go hungry people.

Take note of them, those endless brigades and battalions of have nots in Guyana.  The first thing that is noticeable about these citizens of one of the richest countries in the world is how meager (maagah) they are.  It is that ‘lean and hungry look’ straight from William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.  To my horror, it is not of one Roman working to get a rebellion going.  It is of many cross-sections of citizens in the have nots quarters dotted throughout Guyana.  Countless Guyanese below the center of this nation’s economic ladder are without enough food daily, and it shows.  Their thin to threadlike waistlines, and they are not into modeling.  Their gaunt, hollow-cheeked, and hollow-eyed look tells the tale of two radically different countries.  it’s what is squeezed under the One Guyana umbrella.  Who get, get more than their rightful share; probably as much as 10,000 times their due, if not more.  On the downside, those who are out are out in the cold without a rice bag for covering.  Howzat for being among the world’s richest!  Gritty is their ongoing condition.  Hardscrabble is what lives on their table, before their children.  Political leaders make a big show about inflation.  Down below, Guyanese live with depression.

Meanwhile, their trusted champions were selling poorer and harder hit Guyanese that better is going to come.  It did.  Except that bus rushed past, didn’t stop for, reach crying and lamenting Guyanese.  Their own brothers and sisters snatched what belonged to them out of their grasp, and now monopolize that for themselves.  Who has a fleet of high-end vehicles, while the poor wait in line for a bus or a boat?  Who struggles to find the rent or mortgage, while their tribal chiefs have luxury apartments to rent by the dozen?  Who can import foreign delicacies for their daily banquets, but it is a daily grind for many to get a pot going?  This is the tale of two Guyana(s).  One fattened, but small, segment celebrating on the mountaintop.  Around the corners, the biggest fraction of Guyana’s population is living in economic dungeons.  No light.  No vittles.  They can’t breathe.  They can’t even pray.  They had better get moving.

(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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