My trip to Guyana – nostalgia and observations

Aug 13, 2022 Letters

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Dear Editor 

Recently, I visited Guyana to attend my nephew’s wedding. I was very reluctant to make the trip after the recent disturbances on the East Coast, but made the trip anyway, at the insistence of my sister who assured me that all will be well.

Thankfully, I completed my trip and returned safely to my family in Canada, who were extremely worried about my safety throughout my stay. My two weeks in Guyana were very eventful and allowed me to catch up with friends, family and neighbours I have not seen in many, many years. I felt truly blessed to have had this opportunity.

I visited the Guyana School of Agriculture where I met people who remembered me from 27 years ago when I graduated from that institution. They were very kind and allowed me to tour the campus which brought back feelings of nostalgia. My thanks to those two very wonderful friends.

I was fortunate to visit the upper reaches of the Abary River and the conservancy that was built there to irrigate the MMA scheme. This scheme was built when I was a little boy and my trip there brought back vivid memories of almost daily fishing trips to the back lands during the August holidays and swimming in the newly built canals.

I saw the vast rice fields, cattle ranches and some familiar places I had stayed in the “creek,” as everyone referred to the area. I remembered the days I would ride my bicycle to buy milk directly from the farmers, the time when my brother and I spent a week by one of the cattle farmers catching “hassa” to be sold for a “pocket piece” and the time when another brother and I walked for more than seven miles to and from the place where my dad worked to bring back the “hassa” he had caught and left in a pond there.  Indelible memories that would live with me forever!

Guyana is a beautiful place with vast lands that every Guyanese should take time to explore if they have the means to. I witnessed many developments that will hopefully propel my country of birth further. I also interacted with and engaged in conversations with many people who expressed consternation at the state of politics and governance that affects their daily lives. The following are some negative feelings expressed to me and some of my own observations:

1. There is a huge garbage disposal problem in all the areas I visited. Going up to the Bush Lot “waterside” I witnessed garbage littered on both sides of the dam leading to the koker. Empty plastic bottles are everywhere. Seems like there is no coordinated garbage disposal system in Bush Lot.
2. Many people expressed their extreme disappointed in the way the recent flood relief payments were handled locally. The general feeling was that there was no fairness in how the payments were handled. People who were not entitled were given the maximum payments and deserving farmers were either shorthanded or did not receive anything at all. Complaints to higher authorities fell on deaf ears.
3. People feel that the current government does not have their interests at heart and that they only come at election time for their votes and forget them after. They feel that they will either vote for a third party or not at all in the next election.
4. There is a vast disconnect between the police and the local populace. There is immense discrimination on how the law is applied. One set of the population seems to be facing the brunt of the law, sometimes for very minor offences or none at all, while the other side gets away with everything, including sometimes disobeying the police at roadblocks. Demands for bribes are everywhere. People pay up just to get things done and accept it as a way of life.
5. Projects are given to contractors with connections to the government and in many instances roads are built and a few months after they crumble. There seems to be no oversight and enforcement of contractual obligations on the part of the contractors.
6. In agricultural areas, while all-weather roads are welcomed, there are complaints that the roads are poorly planned and will not last very long. The roads are built very high and the egress and ingress dams are very low. During the muddy season trucks and agricultural machinery have to climb up from those dams to the roads and will chip away at the edges to get on. Many such broken areas were pointed out to me. The all-weather roads were built a short while ago.

I can go on and on with the complaints I have heard but I hope people in authority pay attention to the needs of the people and their concerns. Some people are resigned to the fact that they left to fend for themselves and that no one will ever help them in anyway. Nevertheless, I witnessed a resilient people. People who are determined to succeed on their own, to propel themselves forward despite the obstacles and have a good time whenever the opportunity avails itself. I sincerely hope and pray that things improve incrementally and that the day will come when everyone in Guyana will feel like they are truly Guyanese.

Yours Truly,

Karamchand Ramassar

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