The Suffering
Hardships, distress and pain cling to us like skin on bones. The suffering many Guyanese face is rooted in living beneath the poverty line. But even when we have found our places of comfort and peace and believe that we will not suffer, we are soon reminded that we cannot escape.
Circumstances like long lines at the Central Immigra-tion Passport Office have returned to remind us of our suffering. Despite there being offices in Linden and Berbice, we have regressed. Whether people are trying to leave the country or there is an alarming number of new applicants due to expired passports, it is unacceptable that we have returned to those long lines, especially in a time of COVID. It is unacceptable that in 2021 we cannot apply for a passport online. Are we not an evolved people with the skills, intelligence and technological advancements to set up the system for online passport applications?
The people standing in those lines seemed calm and patient. I surmise that many are comfortable in our suffering. But we are not a primitive society, even though constantly regressing and seemingly basking in the shadows of our failures might convince observers that we are. Perhaps I too delude myself into thinking we are not.
We grapple with several social issues that result in unnecessary suffering. The systems to ensure that we can manage our affairs safely, timely and comfortably are inadequate. There is nothing sophisticated about the daily inconveniences which are eliminated in many other societies. It is the choices that we have made that have led us here. Whether we must stand for hours in a line to make a passport application in 2021 or be at the mercy of uncouth and, often underpaid personnel in all sectors, we choose this because we accept that it is just the state of things and do not make concerted efforts to influence change. Maybe the truth is that those who benefit from the corruption and incompetence are quite comfortable with things remaining unchanged. But are you?
Our suffering also includes inconveniences like blackouts. Blackouts should have been eliminated here a few decades ago. The passion and commitment of our former enslaved and indentured ancestors to build this country seemed to have died with them and their immediate descendants. Perhaps a few visionaries have emerged since Independence and perhaps most of them are also dead.
In 2021 there are still disruptions in our water supply. Are we not ashamed that we are known as the land of many waters, but citizens are still being left for hours without water? Almost daily I browse GWI’s Facebook page, and they are constantly making apologies. Several times a week now the residents of Georgetown and other areas are left without running water for several hours. Is this acceptable because they often inform us?
We pay for essential services and receive subpar service. Whether it is phone, internet, electricity or water, we are expected to accept a modicum with a smile.
The Violence
But we smile through much of the suffering here. Like the violence. Most Guyanese are conditioned to accept that violence is an essential part of our society. The violence penetrates our homes, learning institutions and wider society to resolve conflict and for discipline. So, are we surprised when young men are executed? Or when spouses kill their partners? Or when children are murdered? Or when horrific sexual crimes are exposed? Or when people are robbed and injured or killed? Like businessman Harry Mattai who was stabbed by bandits a week ago. No one is safe.
We need to stop feigning shock when we watch videos like that of the mini-bus driver chasing a police officer with a cutlass. The reaction of many was to laugh. Research might tell us that many Guyanese are psychologically damaged. Or perhaps the laughter is to cover the discomfort and sadness. Part of the violence is that there is often no respect for the law. And part of the issue also is that many officers of the law are also deep in corrupt practices.
The mini-bus culture is a part of the culture of violence. Not as a collective since I know there are decent drivers and conductors who do not assault their passengers or the police. But a large section of them, are despicable. And it is the passengers that continue to choose and enable them. I have seen mini-buses speeding, playing loud music and packed in this time of COVID.
Drivers and conductors are still disrespecting their passengers. I watched a video where a mini-bus conductor assaulted a passenger who simply asked that he turn down the music. He was charged. But most Guyanese who use minibuses seem to enjoy the assault on their ears. Part of the violence is that people are so accustomed to the suffering that many would sit in a mini-bus or any other speeding vehicle and wait for death.
The Corruption
From the misleaders to the people, corruption penetrates this society. Corruption stems from paying the average Guyanese a wage of suffering while fat cats enrich themselves and make little contribution to advancing this society. Sugar workers are calling for increased wages while billions have gone into bailing out the sugar industry.
What is sad and leads to much of the corruption is that some people believe that while they are in positions of power, they must rape the country.
Corruption is young people believing that the drug trade is a way out. This is also cause for much of the violence we experience. Increasingly we are seeing their faces in the news when they are caught with illicit drugs. But the truth is it is a way out of poverty for many of them. They emboldened while the major beneficiaries of the drug trade may sit in the shadows and watch.
Corruption is promising every Guyanese household $25,000 COVID relief and excluding many from receiving because they did not own the building in which they lived. Common sense will tell even some with the lowest intelligence quotient that an average Guyanese paying rent probably needs the COVID relief more than the landlord. But corruption has left many Guyanese with a pink slip and a promise.
COVID has been here for a more than a year. The masks may cover our smiles and frowns, but our eyes tell the sadness many are grappling during this awful time. Twenty-five thousand per household is what Guyanese have been told that the government can afford after many people lost their jobs due to closure of business or other circumstances. Parents have children to feed. The price of food has increased. But we are sitting quietly enduring the suffering, the violence and the corruption we choose in this oil rich country. Corruption is when we must ask ourselves, who will benefit from Guyana’s oil wealth and the average man is sure that it is not them.
