THE GOOD LIFE

The Good Life.

A noble thought that is achievable.

In the past 50 years, our Presidents have accepted their authority as simply a figure head, cutting ribbons, welcoming potential investors, photo opportunities for visitors and international travels in speech forum.

This trend will never change, unless.

The country needs a working President and citizens needs to hold him to the task, everyday.

 He is the visionary.

And his ministers are charged with his vision.

What we have at this point, is a whole lot of empty rhetoric. Perhaps, a smoke screen.

The conscience of the nation rests on the NGOs. They must move the President's agenda.

Those men and women are Divine Champions, the attribute of God dwells in them-loving kindness, forgiveness, caring for the needy, etc,etc.

We can never escape suffering, but it can be manageable.

It is the time for citizens to manage their government, present and future..  

JUBILEE

JUBILEE:

A time or season for rejoicing.

A special anniversary.

Fifty years of independent association on a piece of land on the vast earth, constituted by borders in the name of Guyana. Diverse as its people-the Amerindian Peoples, the African decent, the East Indian decent and all those who were born into the Mixed Races. Inheriting the rich cultures and civilizations of the Native Peoples of the Land of Many Waters, China, Portugal, Africa and India.

Born on a fertile land that nourished our bodies, streams that quenched our thirst and villagers to watch us grow. Upright and neighbourly. A paradise under the viscous tropical sun. Lush green, trees great and small. Shelter for us, whether one lives in the hinterlands or on the coast in wooden houses.

A gift from God for all of His creations.

And for Guyana, He proclaimed so in the Psalms, “For every animal in the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creature of the field are mine.”  

What a privileged people we are - a nation of six races of people.

Once upon a time we lived in harmony.

But, just as confusion came upon the ancient people of Babel, so too, did we. The rhetoric of prejudices energized hatred. And we became confused. Generations gone to the grave confused.

The cemetery, bones of limbs and empty eyes sockets of skulls is what remained of all people, good and bad.

So many wasted opportunity.

Haggai 2:8, God revealed, “The silver is mine and the gold is mine.” 

As in all of creation, the gold and silver are from God, and given to man for good use, for a useful purpose.

We have so much.

So why are we beset with turmoil and confusion.

The answer lies with each citizen of Guyana, whether they live overseas or at home.

There is a story, “A banquet table laden with foods of all sorts. Everything appealing to the senses. Seated at the table are six races of people. Looking at each other. The host insisted that only the cutleries are to be used. No fingers used for eating.  But the cutleries were too long in length and could not bring the food to the person’s month. They had the freedom of choice how to use the cutleries. They knew the only way to be fed was to feed each other. Obstinate, no one look the initiative. They became more and more starved as the hours went by.”

That is my country. We have bountiful, but we need each other for the harvest.

Fifty years of denying yourself personal prosperity.

On this moment of Jubilee, let the momentous occasion be the season when we bury our differences in its celebration.

I will be frank. There are some mode of celebration which are dislikable to some of our citizens. A gala is a fabulous event. But not all will find the desire for it.

It is important that each ethnic group identify their participation. They must celebrate in their own way. The land has been good to us, it has given us many sons and daughters. It was marked for us the very moment a European nation laid claim to it in the name of their King and Queen. Bearing in mind, it was taken from the Native Peoples and we honour them with greatest respect.     

The generations now gone, had a longing for anthem, flag and country. So deep were their consciousness that they aligned with cause and purpose.  The efforts of Marcus Garvey filled the void, he rallied the Negro under the anthem and flag of Ethiopia. Then, there was the League of Coloured People leading the discussions for a self-governing colony of British Guiana. And when East Indian Indentured Servants moved away from plantation life, they sought a path and service in the British Guiana East Indian Association.     

We were a people of harmonious relationships in towns and villages. Yes, there some ethnic tensions.

The politic of C.B, Jagan and L.F.S. Burnham consumed us as a meteor would scorch the earth. Nothing remained. Distrust emerged out of Pandora’s chest. We lost all desires for a country over the last sixty six years. Gone are the village mentors, the mentors in our towns. And gone are the mentors of the nation. Guyana has lost so many opportunities for the good life.

Our history has been one of communities within the borders of Guyana, be it ethnic or religious. One Nation One People One Destiny, are only words-empty and without substance. This current government can move beyond this stalemate by doing right by the country. Do the right things. The citizens will take notice.  And they themselves will measure the integration.

For too long we have been divided on ethnicity. The government needs to build the country in anticipation of the day when ethnicity does not impose itself in the national dialogue. 

Be as Atta Turk, the man of modern Turkey.

We have in our history valiant men. Slaves they may have been but full in the Spirit of God. Endow with immense wisdom.

Our leaders must seek paths of erecting pillars to uplift the nation.

Quamina, a peaceful soul, gave us a start. His wisdom should be an inspiration to every President in charting the destiny of a country so blessed in natural wealth.

Progress of nations has been an inspiration for Guyanese. It may have been a sense of pride for the people of the era. They knew the importance of the event. I witnessed the celebration of India’s Independence at Pln. Albion. Too young to realize the significance other than the button pinned to my shirt by a reveller, the emblem of the flag of India. I can only guess of their sense of joy. Perhaps, motivated by an emanated voice from BBC radio.  Pandit Nehru, “……..At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes but rarely in history. ....……..”

It was the dawn of a new world dispensation. Throughout Africa and other places around the globe, where Empires stripped natives of their lands, wealth and dignity. Aspiring men and women, perhaps were listening- a pledge. With hope of one day to follow the path of political independence.

Gold Coast would be next-Kwame Nhkrumah’s Ghana. I witnessed that celebration too. At the Rosignol Society Hall. The honouring speeches of liberation. Emancipation was freedom from slavery, but Ghana’s Independence was the removal of shackles from African ancestry wherever they were on the planet.

In Nehru’s speech, he could have well been speaking about future events in British Guiana when he said, “All of us, to whatever religion we may belong are equally the children of India, with equal rights, privileges and obligations. We cannot encourage communialism or narrowmindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thoughts or in action. “

Replacing the word India with Guyana and religion with race, it would be, “All of us, to whatever race we may belong are equally the children of Guyana, with equal rights, privileges and obligations. We cannot encourage communialism or narrowmindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thoughts or in action. “

That is what holds us back from having a good life in the land of plenty. Plain and simple “Narrowmindedness”. In Guyana, we are abound with such people. In high places. The atrocities of Rwanda were edged on by the educated, who knew the power of words. Words of narrow minds perpetrated the carnage. Going back in time- Linden, Guyana comes to mind.  The Wismar riots and the Sun Chapman incident. Indelible events in the minds of both East Indian and African ancestry. While the era of the Disturbances are etched in minds of individuals, the Wismar Riots and the blow-up of the Sun Chapman are in the chronicles of Guyana.

Isaiah 44:24.

This is what the Lord says - your Redeemer, who formed you in the belly of the womb. I am the Lord, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself, who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who overthrows the learning of the wise and turns it into nonsense, who carries out the words of his servants and fulfills the predictions of his messengers, ………..

Certainly, not the politicians, for they were and are like vipers. Full of poison. They side with the principality of darkness.

This country has had a great many messengers.  For over fifty years, that is five decades and the many souls in the great beyond. They prayed for this country. They sought the favour of God.  And the Almighty does fulfil them as He did in 2 Kings 20. He answers requests in His own timing.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” A quote from the Presidential Candidate to the people of Linden.

Reflections on the tragedies of the Wismar Riots. For in deed the speaker understood the ailment of the nation and ironic he chose Linden to quote Ephesians 6:10. A place of great racial in tolerance towards East Indians.

The quote resonated the notions of a man with higher understanding of the Guyanese dilemma. The condition of the hearts of the citizens.

An elevated man, who is going reach down and take hold of each of the races and pull them up into the “Good Life.”

God had finally turned His face towards Guyana. There is a messenger.

Soon after the May 11, 2015 victory, it was different. The wisdom of Soloman was replaced with Conventional Wisdom and inclusivity was only a fashionable word of the day. The desire to be compassionate towards a preferred race became “the agenda.” A race of people who deemed marginalized was going to be favored. There is nothing bad about that. It is not a crime to feel kinship. President Hoyte told us that Guyana has kith and kin. So we know. It has always been, “dem and us.” For in Guyana, everything eventually becomes a race issue.

The dream soon gave way to pride. And that, is, where and why Ephesians 6:10 should be consulted in its entirety.  “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

The elevated man was compromised. Abandonment of a status, inorder to elevate old comrades. Eager to discard the young, Guyana’s future. And the creation of two governing bodies within a single government. It is a disastrous move and will eventually do some very serious relationship among the people of Guyana.

For a while, citizens believed the prayers of fifty years was answered. It was to be a time of healing at the momentous time of our fiftieth year of Independence.

Timely.

I am afraid, for all that had occurred over the past year, it will be as Independence Night of May 26, 1966. Georgetown was bustling.  Flag raising, fireworks in the air and revellers. That night, if and only if,  Forbes would have invited Cheddie in a more significant role at the events. In the fleeting, he did stop by for a quick embrace. Perhaps, we would have had a progressive country in that gesture. Instead, great number of citizens throughout the country went to bed, early. Not caring of the event.  There were no speeches at the Rosignol Society Hall. Once a unified village in the 50’s, we were strained in 1966. My country became independent and I witnessed no pomp. My youthful efforts of telling the “Limeys” to go home, slogan written on every open spaces had materialized on May 26, 1966. They went home and I went to bed that night not knowing the celebrations in Georgetown.

After 50 years, the APNU+AFC will recreate in celebrations on May26, 2016. Today’s abyss is no different than the one in 1966.  It was a missed opportunity when Forbes did not reach out to Cheddie. Will President Granger extend his hand and pull this nation out of the abyss? Will he narrow the great divide? Will he reach out to the Opposition?

It is often said, “Wisdom comes with Age.” It is my personal thoughts, that this President possess the Wisdom of Soloman. We are country like the twelve tribes of Israel. Contentious even more with six different races of people.  It is important on this Jubilee year we bury the 50 years of strife. At the midnight hour we commence our history of the future 50 years. Many of our old will not see those years to follow. Our young people will. It is important that we bequeath to them a good inheritance.

In his governance, where ever there is bondage of hearts and minds, it is his duty to free such souls. The Indians of Guyana needs to be directed on the path that allows them to make the right choices.

Democracy, in its true sense, puts nations building forefront. It is by this principle we chart the course of the three generations to follow us. It is a continual process which instill stability and economic progress.

This President must elevate the Pillars that will sustain the quality of life and tolerance of the Guyanese society.

This President must build a society and country regardless of the racial intolerance that persists.

This President must do all he can to prepare a sound governing country. So that when this nation finally wakes up to peaceful coexistence, they will find all the articles for a modern state to continue to build upon.

It is important that this President showcase moderate Indians in governmental responsibilities. Not necessarily ministers or parliamentarians.

For the past 65 years, Indians have had poor leadership, and too blind to notice it. They are in bondage. And I trust this President will the see the merits in setting them free. They need to have mentors.

We cannot escape racial voting in Guyana. We are strapped to the Peoples National Congress and the Peoples Progressive Party. And the votes fall in line with either the Indo or Afro. It is important for the Indian to be able to make the right choices without fear or intimidation by the officers of the Peoples Progressive Party. And its contributions in all future governments. This business of opposing just for opposing sake is not right for democracy. There must be participation and cooperation. For the races are not willing to forego their racial dominance. Distrust is forever present. 

In the politics of Guyana, Presidents delegate their authority. No matter, how they delegate, they are still the shepherd of the nation. And must acknowledge the divine in every citizen regardless of race and religion.   

God Bless.

Velutha  Kuttapen.

TARRED with the SAME BRUSH

TARRED with the SAME BRUSH

Sadly, the government members of the AFC are no different than the PPP and the PNC. Cut from the same cloth of complete disrespect for ordinary Guyanese. They are tarred with the same brush-rude and holier than thou.

This government must be brought down as soon as possible. They lack the vision to bring jobs to the working man.

If jobs are in the palms of those in the diaspora, then any government must choose carefully who they send to woo the investor. Uncouth individuals are not welcome. Such behavior is acceptable in Guyana-and only to Home based Guyanese.

More important than forensic audits, is the government’s ability to move forward with job creation. They have spent money on themselves without thinking of the impoverished in the country. This government should drive by every morning before heading to their offices and look at the Guyanese that are sleeping on the pavement around the Parliament Building. It should be the reminder that they were elected to better the lives of those who they see in that deplorable state.  They should spend some of that high pay raise and buy coffee and sandwiches for those Guyanese every morning.

The Government has lost its way. Perhaps, they never had a way forward to better the lives of common men.

They must go. For they have nothing to offer the people.

For almost 50 years these political misfits have governed Guyana. It is time for A Peoples Movement.

The Trade Unions must motivate the citizens. Down tools throughout the country.

THE WISE versus THE FOOL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q3XbGiYf3A


Interesting words for our Guyanese Politicians. And the racists among us.

An African Proverb: If you choose to lie with dogs, expect to get up with fleas.

A lesson for the country-in step with Social Cohesion.

THINGS TO CONSIDER: 1

THINGS TO CONSIDER: 1

An attempt- solution to the Venezuelan issue.

Empower the Amerindian people. 

Guyana was their land before the Vatican divided the world in 1492 between the Spaniards and Portuguese.

The Indigenous Peoples is still a civilization.

And the Venezuelan situation can be their resurgence.

Carl Greenidge should bring the matter up with Pope Francis.

LEADERSHIP of the PPP

STRATEGIC ALLIANCE.

“PLEDGE” written on October 5, 2014.

“To Those Who Vote PPP” written November 15, 2014.

It is as though my words are prophetic. I am prompted by that inner voice to write to my country. Jewish Rabbis have stated, “When God speaks, the listener hears the words of God either in his own voice or the voice of his teacher-just as the Prophet Samuel heard the voice of Eli, his teacher.”

The Elections of 2011, I was prompted to write a victory for the AFC-they were favoured. The leadership of the AFC probably did not think much of it or knew of it.

My country needed a fresh start.

For 65 years, I am burdened by the missed opportunities.

That day, at GECOM, when two votes gave the AFC another seat in Parliament. That was the victory.  And of things to come, later. It stunned the Ramotar/Jagdeo Clique. The Combined Opposition became the majority.  In one of the topics on my Blog I have recounted the event of the applications of an incorrect formula, spotted by Mr. Alexander.

That is God at work. Answer to the prayer of a burdensome heart. 

Now, I am prompted again to appeal to the East Indian voters. Just as I was prompted back on November 15, 2014 when I wrote, “To Those Who Vote PPP.”  

Please, pay heed to my call.

Support the APNU+AFC with every one of your votes.

There is no PPP at this point, only the Ramotar/Jagdeo Clique. A family ran organization, hoping for your empowerment of them, to be more dishonest. The harlots of corruption are more bold and barefaced.

Vote APNU+AFC. It is a Strategic Alliance. One that gives you time to re-build the Peoples Progressive Party. Your party.

The PPP must survive. Just as the PNC and the AFC. It is important and healthy for the country. And I wrote about that too. For the times of madness as we have today, sane men can come together for a common cause of the country’s survival.

I strongly urge you East Indians. Do your part for your country. Please do not empower Ramotar/Jagdeo Clique with your ballot. Doing so will only cause additional punishment to all-including you the East Indians.

Please be sensible.     

Preached at, by the Ramotar/Jagdeo Clique to be fearful of their fellow citizens. Telling the East Indians, the PPP is a Coolie Man Party only justifies that the PNC must be a Blackman Party.     

The Clique resurrected L.F.S Burnham, to remind East Indians of his banning of flour, dhall, aloo, sardines and other food items.  And for 23 years now under the so called PPP and some years under Desmond Hoyte those food items were imported again. 

So what is the purpose of all the talk about Forbes Burnham?

East Indians, please try to see the schemes of the Ramotar/Jagdeo Clique.

Memories are not just about the past. Be curious. And you will know, the past is used to capture your hearts and minds in support of the Clique, for unending generations. Already a whole generation has died in their support for the PPP. They died poor, you are poor and your children will be poor and your children children will be poor. The men and women of the so called PPP will get richer and you will be slave to them. For that is where the Ramotar/Jagdeo Clique wishes to hold you. They have determined your future in the past twenty three years. Because you let them do it.

For God’s sake, please don’t be stubborn.

Change things.

Make things better.

The Clique will preach the fallacies of Forbes Burnham, but they will never tell you how he came to power. There would never have been any of Forbes policies had it not been for the Jagans and their Stalinist /Communist ideology.  They too, were stubborn to change their bankrupt ways of thinking. Just as you the East Indians of today. It is not too late for you to make a difference in the governance of your country.

Not too late. Not yet, anyway.

Dr. Jagan pursue a Communist agenda that excels at keeping citizens of all countries that has that style of thinking in poverty. It did not bother him that he hated capitalism of America, Britain, Canada and other countries that have freedom, plenty to eat and  free expressions. He was willing to trade all those things British Guianese had grown accustomed to, for scarcity of food stuff, suppression of freedom, food rationing and food lines. Forbes Burnham thought like him too. That is why Cheddie Jagan gave support to Burnham’s decisions to restrict freedom of America, British and Canada intervention.

Both men were Soviet stooges. One more fanatical than the other. Forbes pacified Cheddie by quoting Communist doctrines to him. One of Forbes favorite to Cheedie whenever there were complaints, “Oh! Come now comrade, in Communism there is class strife not racial strife.” So bankrupt were both of those men-they made us hate our own countrymen.  Each consumed by power. Forbes for his own Pride. For Cheddie, glorification by his Soviet Masters for his continued efforts. For Cheddie Jagan, the rural East Indians were nothing more than mere votes for his advancement of Communism in Guyana. Cheddie loved the Soviet so much, he even empowered Soviet trained Bharrat Jagdeo as his successor. His actions dictated that. Perhaps, he gave Mrs, Jagan a note on that, before he died. 

Is it any wonder that Bharrat Jagdeo would go to any lengths and get the East Indian vote in rural Corentyne.  Dr, Cheddie B. Jagan would approve all of Bharrat Jagdeo words.

Forbes is resurrected by the Clique as the bogey man. Cheddie is resurrected as the saint.

I ask you, please vote for the APNU+AFC. Every person. By doing so, you would have freed yourself from the clutches of Bharrat  Jagdeo. His dominance and the dominance of those that surrounds him. They have nothing in common with you and seek not your hope of better days for your families.

Throw them out of Parliament and you will see how quickly they will go off to America. And with their riches.

Regain the Peoples Progressive Party. It is your party. The party that you sustained for 65 years. Had it not been for you, your parents and grandparents there would not have been any Jagans or Jagdeo. You have empowered these individual with your single vote.

Your vote has power.

And this election use it for CHANGE.

Vote APNU+AFC.

Let your vote be counted in that coalition.

This is your opportunity to re-build your country. Be involved it in. Seldom in history, when situations lines itself up, in such a way, that a change is absolutely necessary. David Granger is not Forbes Burnham. Neither is he like Robert Corbin or Desmond Hoyte. He is an honourable man who will forge policies and procedures to better the lives of all and every Guyanese.

Let it be known, it is a coalition I am asking you to vote for. The Peoples National Congress and the Alliance for Change are the major players. You, who are not supporters of the PNC and AFC must take your block of votes over to the coalition. They will know, you have put your lot in with them.

The aim is to take all 65 seats of parliament. One, for each year of the so called PPP 65 years of existence. And its failure to govern for all the peoples of Guyana.

You are going to regain the Peoples Progressive Party and throw out the current leadership. After 65 years, you will finally have control. The party that was built by past generations hard earned pennies and the purchase of it newspaper-The Thunder. The party will be in your control for the very first time. It is very necessary for a renewed Peoples Progressive Party. The PNC and AFC will still be around.    

East Indians! Please doan let Jagdeo use dead men to chart your future. Dumped Bharrat Jagdeo and his band of misfits.

Vote APNU+AFC.

By doing so.

You free yourself of racial politics.

You get the opportunity to regain the PPP.

And chase out Jagdeo and his band of misfits from Freedom House. Out of your lives. For they have no morality.

Look back and find out whether racial divisions have done the country and citizens any good.

Vote APNU+AFC.

Regain control of the Peoples Progressive Party.

Your Political Party.

It is a Strategic Alliance.

DEMOCRACY

The elections are over. 

Breathe of fresh air.

Streams forth.

And we breathing at ease.

Then the Order of Roraima.

For some.

The joy disappeared.

They reflected at a terrible time.

While others felt justified..

What happened to endeavours to be the solution?

Perhaps, the gesture of Reconciliation.

Will Truth cometh forth, soon?

Next commentary "GRACE"- Understanding Book of the Ephesians..  

DEMOCRACY.

In Guyana. For me, it should have been a practice of tolerance among those entities that strive to govern us, the citizens. Especially, since there are no dominant ethnic group to give any of the entities a clear majority.  We should have been a model nation to the world, because we are the descendants of a people who were brought to these lands as slaves and bonded males and females.

In our earlier existence on this land, our forefathers were very cooperative with each other-regardless of ethnicities.  We have learnt from each other in many ways.

Tolerance and trust should have been our mainstay. Political parties should have had government subsidies to carry out their work.  And equal freedom and finances to promote their agenda. For it is the people that will be served.

Instead of the desire to have opponents at a disadvantage to have the upper edge. To spread propaganda. And to deceive the citizens.

Such things erodes the trust among the upper echelon of the society. It breathes contempt. Such ill feelings do no good for the people of the country. It weakens us.

A Constitution is the framework of democracy.

Yet, no political leader never found the decency to correct the one written for this nation by devious men in our past history. Today, it saddles the country with poor governance and empowers individuals of poor character to hold high offices in this land – untouched by the laws of the country. They have awarded immunity onto themselves. There is no none in charge. Such men and women are answerable to no one. They are a power on to themselves. Dangerous to the wellbeing of the citizens. Those are the types of political organizations we have –the PPP, the PNC, and the AFC. There is no discipline in their structures or perhaps the political parties have no desires to challenge an inept President or corrupt Ministers or an inadequate one holding a Ministerial position.

We have seen what the PNC had done with the Constitution written by them-for their favours. And with the same Constitution, today we are experiencing terrible governance under the PPP. Political Parties- equally deficient of moral values to question and challenge. Also, is the AFC, for it shows they too can be contemptuous; perhaps, it could be their Stalinist’s indoctrination. For Josef Stalin was a revered Soviet leader admired by both Forbes and Cheddie and their protégé.

The electorate alienation into the camps of Afro and Indo started with 1950’s politics. That pattern will continue on in our future unless something drastic is done to promote trust and willingness to listen to others rather than ones ethnic group. 

What has made the Indo-Guyanese distrustful of the People’s National Congress?  Is it the Split of 1955 whereby the Peoples Progressive Party became factions of Burnhamites and Jaganites? Could that have been perceived as racism because the Indoes choose Cheddie and Afroes choose Forbes. Or, is it as the Afro-Guyanese intellectuals claim that such hatred lies in the teachings of Hinduism? It is true Hinduism endorses and enforces a caste system in India. However in Guyana, that brand of Hinduism does not exists. For the Indoes who discriminate against Afroes for no reason at all, then it must be an inward trait to exercise dominance over another group of people in a society. Could the possibility exists that the Wismar Massacre is responsible for the racial divisions in the country? That incident could have made any rational Indian into a racist. And it did affect many doctors who tended to the female victims. Unspeakable horrific things done to the sexuality of the young and old. They were ferried out of Wismar/Linden, the young and old, men and women –all wounded in some way and laid bare on the wharves in Georgetown. The dead –their soul departed in fear and desperation.

Years later, in foreign countries, Lindeners would retell of that day. They said there was moaning and groaning coming from the victims as they laid in drains and parapits. Also, they were quick to point out that it wasn’t Lindeners who did those horrible acts. Claiming, “The rampaging mob was sent from Georgetown-ferried in on the Son Chapman.”

At that era of our history, there were only two men in the People’s National Congress who could have ordered and enraged such a mob. The hour long ferry trip from Georgetown did not quell their enraged spirits-riled up by speeches of hate in Georgetown. The mob hit the docks at Wismar/Linden in a frenzied state. Raw hate.

The Jews say that God is always speaking, because He expects the discernment He had placed in the hearts of mankind would hear His words in the thoughts of their minds. But that day in Wismar/Linden, Lucifer and his demons was in full force-tribalism of hate spurned on by the beat of drums-silently in the heads of the mob. Fire. The domain of the devil brought down to Wismar. What was the reward of the devil to Lindeners for the carnage; the devil is known for getting humans to cheat, steal, rob and kill. The gains of the mob were only temporary-the loot was spent in no time, the gold was smelted, what sexual pleasure could be had from the rape of women and the lives snuffed out, surely The Almighty will enquire from the murderers.

It has been fifty years since. Perhaps, some of the victims dead. Perhaps, some of the mob dead. Perhaps, one of the architects of that massacre still alive in the enclave of the People’s National Congress.  The Peoples Progressive Party blamed the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States of America for the massacre. True to their Soviet masters, the tragedy became just another Cold War escapade of blaming the Americans. The British were blamed for dividing the races-with their motto, “Divide and Rule.” And the devil’s reward to Lindeners! I leave that for the people of Linden to take stock of their fortunes over the last fifty years. 

It is said, “The public has a short memory.” And those incidents were forgotten. The leadership of People’s Progressive Party gave Critical Support to the People’s National Congress on many issues and even considered Shared Governance.

So why, the distrust of the People’s National Congress still prevails onto this day? There are feelings that East Indians were marginalized-teaching jobs were denied and the civil services jobs too.

A PNC party card was essential for any kind of activity.  

No country remains the same-British Guiana/Guyana was a country in transition. Before the arrivals of Portuguese, Chinese and East Indians, there were only the Amerindians, Whites, Africans and the admixture of those races. Education of Africans was a negotiated agreement at the Emancipation Declarations. Church ran schools continually educated African children even before the Indenture-ship period was implemented in the colony. And when Indentures came, the Church ran schools were still educating African children and continued until the People’s Progressive Party decision to rid the colony of the Church participation in education. It was only natural for those educated Africans to hold every position/job in the colony. And when the time came for the children of the Indentured to be educated, it was the African who taught the Portuguese, the Chinese, the Amerindians and the East Indians. As the way progress goes, eventually there were more people and of different races competing for the same jobs. The African started to lose ground-the Portuguese honed in on their commercial and farming ventures. About a century later, the PPP challenged the Church ran schools of forcing East Indians to become Christians in order to get a teaching job in their schools. The church was out of education. And the PPP rewarded PYO members with teaching jobs throughout the colony-even if they were poorly qualified. By the time the PNC assumed the government, Afro-Guyanese youths were underemployed. There was a genuine need to address the problem-opportunities were made available to them. Besides the population was increasing and not enough jobs were around.

Another complaint against the People’s National Congress. The banning of food items. Both Afroes and Indoes complained, each with different reasons. For the Indoes, it is the food lines they cannot get out of their minds and the abuses that took place. To stand all day, get to the counter and to be told the supplies were finished when there were supplies clearly visible. That was Prejudice. Heaven knows what other demands were made for special favours from mothers to get a little bit of food to feed their families. The Indoes craved for dhal, potatoes and wheat flour-they complained about not having flour to make puri for their weddings. With the banning of food items, a contraband culture evolved-ran mainly by East Indians. Many became very wealthy from it. The Police and Army deployed to apprehend Contraband Brigades. The Disciplined Forces did many things with items seized, but what they did with wheaten flour remained indelible in the minds of Afro-Guyanese. Bread, somehow has significance in Christianity. And the sized flour was poured out of the sacks on the ground and kicked around. Left over bread was never cast aside, it was soaked into water. In the Caribbean, Guyanese became laughing stock, for some would purchase bread as one would of Duty Free items when travelling abroad.

The People’s National Congress made us look foolish in the eyes of our Caribbean brothers. Today, the People’s Progressive Party does the same with their corrupt practices, forcing citizens to take refuge among those who have lost respect for Guyanese.          

The decision to ban food items wiped out the merchants of the Colonial Era. Yes, today there are plenty of food on the shelves. But not every commodity is for everyone or can be purchased by everyone. If were not for families living abroad many at home could not even afforded the items. But Indoes would remark, “We have food now, the PPP give us food again.”

There are times, politician decree but God turns whatever might have been meant to be bad into good - undo harm. East Indians may have viewed the decisions by L.F.S Burnham as a personal attack on them. Certainly, the Jagans gave the impression it was a personal attack. I think it was more of an attack on the support base of the People’s Progressive Party who happened to be predominantly East Indians. The international decision to keep the PPP out of government due to its Soviet leanings eventually made East Indians into second class citizens in Guyana.  One was either a PPPite or PNCite and a card carrying member.

And East Indians found whichever way to SURVIVE under the decrees of the People’s National Congress.

Many would go to United States of America. The country despised by the People’s Progressive Party, labelled with despicable names. A country that denied equal opportunities to African Americans, yet supports Afro-Guyanese in the suppression of East Indians.

Strange country, this America. Backing suppression of East Indians in Guyana and yet open its doors to them for immigration. And they arrived in large numbers. Parents did whatever they could to get their girl children out of Guyana and into America. There were cases where East Indian young men took advantage of the situation. Many were feted with the false promises of marriage. Some young men even went through the marriages, consummated the marriages but never filed Immigration Papers for their wives. For some young men, this was a regular practice when they made returned visits to Guyana.

Everyone wanted to leave Guyana.

The Portuguese cited their European heritage and the doors were open to them in America, Britain and Canada.

For the Guyanese of African and East Indian decent, it was a struggle to access any type of visa. They religiously tracked every Immigration Policy decision in Canada and the United States with the hope of being able to put in an application for a visa-Permanent or Visitors.   

An entrepreneurial class emerged to meet demands of many of the shortages of commodities the Burnham decrees had imposed. It gave rise to what is referred to as the ‘SUITCASE ECONOMY’. East Indian seamstresses began by sewing clothes, travelled to Caribbean Islands and sold their products. Returning to Guyana with filled suitcases of commodities to meet the demands of the people.

Selling out of suitcases was nothing new for the East Indians in Guyana. Some did that trade in the Negro villages for decades. The conditions imposed by the Burnham decrees simply pushed them beyond the borders of Guyana. The Caribbean Islands became the market place. And the once few became many, operating out of suitcases, traversing the Islands and Guyana.

TRADERS became their name. And it was no longer only East Indians. Many Negro women became involved in the trade. At Timehri Airport, an observant traveller could see the cooperation of these women-Indoes and Afroes.  The decrees of Burnham affected the Afro-Guyanese as well.

As Guyanese continue to immigrate to Canada and the United States, they sought ways of helping family and friends in need. It appeared as if everyone in Guyana needed some sort of assistance. To fill that need, the opportunity of a booming transportation business materialized. BARRELS filled with much needed commodities were shipped to Guyana continuously. That venture made several entrepreneurs very wealthy.

REMITTANCES eventually became a significant component of the Guyanese economy. Millions of dollars sent by Guyanese living in Canada, United States and other parts of the world created a consumer class in Guyanese. And that gave rise to RETAIL BUSINESSESS. The new trend of SUPERMARKETS.

The lives of the people were comfortable again as in the Colonial Period. And the People’s Progressive Party saw the consumerism as part of their program of success. Failing to build on the generosity of the diaspora. And the PPP became complacent.

Why did the American government focused on British Guiana in 1953?

America in the 1930’s had a following of men and women who were Communists.  Rampant poverty, the lack of having a meal and providing for families was an everyday occurrence.  And elites with the Communist agenda saw the deprivations as an opportunity in promoting the ideology. Trade Unions were infiltrated. Democracy was under attack in America. And the Pro-Democracy champions were people of tremendous influences.

There were crack downs.

At the time, Cheddie Jagan was a student in America. It is written, he was introduced to Communist ideology by a young woman he was seeing at the time. Stopped stone cold in America. They would wait for years, returning to British Guiana to pursue their desires upon an unsuspecting impoverished people.

And they came to British Guiana as a married couple.

Immediately, the norms of an influential colonial people were challenged-the Negroes, the East Indians, the Chinese, the Portuguese, the Mixed People. Termed colonial stooges.

There, began the struggles of extremists and moderates in the Guyanese society. Every opportunity was an assault on the sugar industry- the major employer in the colony. Obviously, to control the workers by a Trade Union. Even though one already existed.

Typical of the Communist, lies and deception became their tools.  And the poor began to look at their White employers with suspicions. The Bible states; “Words are a spirit and life.” And the words of the People’s Progressive Party has cursed the country.  After twenty eight years in Opposition, they returned to power to fulfill the curses. Today, after their rule of twenty two years, what has become of the country? Crimes and criminals are unchecked. Law and Order disregarded by government officials and elite citizenry. The Justice System rift with unethical practices. Narcotics and its shipment destroyed the legitimate exporting of local products. The Environment is foul with garbage. The Drainage and Irrigation System in derelict conditions. Cronyism nurtured poor infra-structures of the country. And their sins are responsible for those in despair who take their own lives-just to escape the hardships imposed by the People’s Progressive Party.  

They are simply a VERY BAD group of men and women in the PPP.  

The People’s Progressive Party is void of leadership-it has a lot of devious people in its midst. So, there is no one in authority. BECAUSE, each knows the wretched ways of the other.

The People’s Progressive Party lacked the ethics of governing. And not today, but in fact since 1953.

Why would the British Government suspend the 1953 Constitution? Because the leadership of the PPP had no respect for the laws written in it.

They gained the confidence of the poor by telling them that the British were paying slave wages and do nothing to ease their misery. When in actual fact, the Sugar Welfare Fund was moving people out of the Cottages into Housing Schemes. There it was, a White person telling an entire Indo group of Guyanese that another set of White people were causing the misery in their lives. And they believed.   

The plan of the People’s Progressive Party was to rid the colony of the Brits and hand its administrations over to the Soviets. How they ever hoped to achieve that-only the Almighty would know. The PPP leadership had to be naive as to what the Americans and British would do to prevent such an event from happening. There had to be something wrong to even think up a plan like that.  Especially, since the Cubans entertained the Soviets in their country. Guatemala was in turmoil-orchestrated by the Central Intelligence Agency. Arbenz had to flee to Mexico. Allende in Chile was monitored by the Americans. And Mousadeh of Iran was ousted.

What was the leadership of PPP thinking when they sent the photograph of Josef Stalin to PPP cells in the villages? Grown men hung the huge photograph of Stalin around their necks and paraded themselves in the presence of the Governor of the Colony-as a form of protest. Less than ten years had passed since Josef Stalin sat with Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman as an axis for defeating Adolph Hitler.  Western nations witnessed the maneuvers of the Soviets as they raced to occupy Germany. In the end, occupying East Germany.  The world watched as the Soviets dominated the lives of the Eastern Europeans.

Who in their right mind would think that the PPP would have been allowed to hand Guyana over to the Soviets?

Just as a today, the PPP of 1953 abandoned their Ministerial duties in pursuit of another agenda. The Legislature descended into upheaval – chaos. Diplomacy and respect for Higher Authority trampled, replaced by anger and plain stubbornness. A line dawn in the Guyanese society, either one was a PPP or a Colonial Stooge. The situation became as historians compare the civilizations of the Greeks and Romans. The Greeks, cultured and diplomatic. The Romans, barbaric and uncouth.

The PPP was never an organization of calmness – always confrontational. Just as today, propaganda was their stock and trade. Justice, diplomacy, good reasoning and decency escaped and escapes their minds. A barbaric group of individuals.  For those of a cultured disposition, the path to Independence was going to be one of observing all the protocols of a matured society capable of being Independent.  Such a path was to be scorned by the People’s Progressive Party-their objections simply dismissed as, “Colonial Stooges.”

With charged rhetoric coming from the People’s Progressive Party, a concerned Governor of the Colony called in the Premier for dialogue. The Governor disclosed, “It appears the Premier is not thinking on his own-someone else is directing his decisions.”

Who is directing Donald Ramotar?

PROROGUE of parliament is to empower a group of individuals who do not have to answer for their actions. The PPP tried the same things in 1953-to do whatever they wanted. But there was a Higher Power then to curb their excessive behaviour. The Constitution was suspended.

Until the Governor read the reasons for the Suspension Order on the radio. Rural peoples never knew the leadership of the PPP made several trips to the Soviet block for indoctrinations. They transported and disseminate subversive literature throughout the colony. Encouraged sabotage and civil disorder.  

 Unfortunate for the citizens. In the rural areas, the voice of the Colonials was drown out by the PPP. Their message to the Indoes, “We Care.” Similar to the present day, “We Care.”

Back in the fifties, the “We Care” was to empower the PPP whose deceitful plan was to take the people into the Soviet sphere.

Today’s, “We Care” is to empower the PPP to continue their reckless administration of the country-disrespect for parliament, corruption, cronyism and list could go on and on.

Those “We Care” had and has a price. Jim Jones cared too. And his followers committed mass suicide.

I ask the voters who willingly give their votes to the PPP. Do you see the pattern of despair and suicides in the rural areas-your communities?

Do you really believe that the People’s Progressive Party cares?      

STUBBORNNESS-a natural trait of the leadership of the People’s Progressive Party. Unwilling to change ideology. Unwilling to provide good governance. Unwilling to call Local Government Elections. Unwilling to call General Elections. Unwilling to replace corrupt ministers. Unwilling to re-convene parliament in a timely manner. Unwilling to lift the prorogue decree.

Stubbornness.

East Indians must understand why the People’s Progressive Party has to go. If East Indians are part of the PPP stubbornness, then what will emerge as the Alternative? There is no Linden Forbes Samson Burnham this time around. He was the lesser of two evils imposed by the British. For we are truly witnessing an evil and corrupt People’s Progressive Party. The British cannot choose for us anymore. It is Guyanese who will have to determine the Change.     

The PPP have boasted of not ever lost an election. But this time around, they could. That depends entirely on the People’s National Congress, Mr. Granger and Mr. Nagamoottoo. Each, separately must weigh their choices. Either to seek personal ambitions or place Guyana foremost.

Sincerely,

Velutha Kuttapen.

timehri@golden.net

www.timehritoday.blogspot.com