Dear Editor,

I have read with much interest the tsunami of comment surrounding President Bharrat Jagdeo’s recent visit to Buxton. I should like to note that there have been some interesting comments on both sides of the issue – all with the same amount of love and concern for the survival of our beloved village. While I do not wish to be embroiled in any argument with anyone involved, to either retort or rebut any of the statements made; I want to add my two bits for what it’s worth. I myself would have attended that meeting with the President had it not been for a more important engagement I had in Georgetown.

For those who cannot recall, or may not know, I am no Johnny-come-lately to Guyanese politics; I chose to remain silent on many local issues only due to my professional obligations. I represented Central Demerara (Buxton included) as a candidate on the PNC winning ticket at the 1964 general elections, while serving as president of the Buxton YSM group and chairman of the PNC group. Subsequently, I was on Prime Minister Burnham’s team – even while he visited PPP strongholds, and the villagers welcomed the opportunity to present their lists of demands.

I remember Burnham’s advice to me when I was getting into politics: “Boy, the first thing I want to teach you is: Politics nah Sunday school…”

When I observed President Jagdeo and members of his cabinet mingling graciously with Buxtonians whom he had invited to the State House, ostensibly in honour of the emancipation anniversary, I saw political expediency. When President Jagdeo marched through Buxton surrounded by people whom he reportedly described as “criminals” not so long ago, I saw political posturing. When I heard the President promise to help with the rebuilding of Tipperary Hall, I called it political pandering and demagoguery. When in his parting remarks, President Jagdeo asked Buxtonians to support him, I saw political opportunism. When I see the President showcasing in the upper echelon of his administration a Buxtonian named Odinga Lumumba (who, prior to his reincarnation, was a PNC supporter known as Bert Hopkinson living at Buxton Middlewalk), I see political gamesmanship. Yes, politics makes strange bedfellows – and our President is a politician indeed.

Accordingly, I wish to remind my brothers and sisters on both sides of this Jagdeo imbroglio, that we must keep foremost in our minds the irrefutable fact that Mr Jagdeo is President of Guyana, all of it – from the Pakaraima mountain range to the Corentyne River and from the Atlantic coastline down south to the Acarai Mountains. The President does not require a passport, or even a visa, to visit Buxton or any other village in Guyana. He can and should go wherever he likes and at whatever time he chooses; that is his prerogative. The President has a responsibility to all Guyanese, whether or not they voted for him or support his political agenda. That’s the way democracy works.

We Buxtonians need President Jagdeo and his administration to help Buxton out of its current economic morass, which is due to no fault of Buxtonians living either at home or abroad; it is their duty to provide the necessary assistance. We are not mendicants; we are ratepayers and taxpayers. We are therefore entitled to our fair share from government coffers.  Moreover, those of us living abroad help subsidize Guyana’s economy when we send money and valuables to our relatives at home and invest in land and buildings.

Buxton is in dire need of an economic revival and much of it depends on infrastructural development, which only the central government is financially capable of providing. For example, the drainage system is dysfunctional and needs to be refurbished.  Also, we need our President to make the kokers functional and restore Company Canal to its original state to provide potable water and serve as a transportation canal for farmers to bring home their produce from the backdam, which is up to nine miles inland. Obviously, farmers cannot carry a large quantity of mangoes, plantains, cassava, yams, eddoes or other produce from that distance without some form of transportation (either by boat, cart or truck). In addition, we should ask our President for assistance in providing mechanized equipment to plough our farmlands and dredge the trenches to facilitate large-scale farming. Traditional subsistence farming cannot sustain the village’s economy.

We appreciate the President’s promise to provide financial aid for the reconstruction of Tipperary Hall. Nevertheless, we need to be able to feed ourselves before we can dance. “Empty bag cannot stand up,” according to a Guyanese proverb.

President Jagdeo is a politician, and he understands that he needs the support of Buxton just as much as Buxton needs him. We are not mendicants; we’re merely asking our President and his PPP-led administration for equal treatment in all matters of state. Our President should be fair in allocating resources, so that Buxton will not be short-changed but receive apportionment in equal measure with areas such as Mahaica and Port Mourant.

These are substantive issues that we should be proactive in demanding from the government, not argue over picayune matters such as whether or not the President should visit Buxton and whether or not Buxtonians should have invited him. Hogwash!

Let us Buxtonians be in one accord, as our forefathers were in 1838, and demand from our President what is rightfully ours. Let’s stop the squabbling and name calling and use our energy and resources for the improvement of our village.

“Politics nah Sunday School.”

Yours faithfully,
Ovid S Abrams