Orwellian we are or on the edge? Even if it really is so, perhaps we are not allowed to say. Words are often deemed more offensive or unparliamentary than the actions those words represent. Do not say corruption in Guyana. Do not stand on truth, justice or righteousness for those who stand on lies, injustice and unrighteousness will try to break your knees. Dishonesty, fraud, misconduct and kickbacks are breaking the backs of the ordinary Guyanese people and setting them up for generational poverty but do not say it.
Is Big Brother watching us? Are subjects of an oligarchy to be kept in line? Freedom of speech becomes freedom only for those associating with those watching the ones under surveillance. They have trolls watching social media pages, allegedly. Names written in black books, allegedly. People on blacklists who cannot sing or work or play for the state, but no, do not say it.
1984 by George Orwell becomes manifested in our lives. We see trillion-dollar budgets, watch the exploitation of the oil funds but are expected to not say anything but participate in our own demise. We see little grants being thrown to the subjects of the oligarchy and them being told to build generational wealth with it. They expect the votes and confidence of the people in this silly season by seeking to temporarily remove their wolves’ clothes.
Do not say corruption when the expectation of those who have mismanaged and poorly governed are expecting to win an election by a landslide. No new voters’ list, no biometrics, but do not say corruption.
Is there a Ministry of Plenty in the land of plenty? Do not say corruption even though the people have been crying, praying, wishing and hoping that their lives would improve. Do not say it when many cannot afford to feed their families for the cost of living continues to skyrocket. But these things do not bother them or the beneficiaries of the dirty actions they do not want us to talk about. Instead, we hear of the great progress and fastest growing economy in a time of heightened frustrations. They say the people, even our senior citizens must be grateful to stand in lines for hours for small cash grants because they are not standing in lines like those of the 1980s for food.
Do not say corruption when they are expecting that the roads that have been built are enough. Even though some of those roads are collapsing under the weight of cheap labour, lack of skills and knowledge and racketeering. Do not say it when too many schools have been burnt, and emergency repairs send children to be home-schooled at the beginning of a term. However, they will not rest until Guyana has 100 percent passes in Mathematics and English but will continue to be incompetent and obnoxious. However, it is expected that these actions will soothe the people.
Do not say corruption when there are more international hotels whose rooms most Guyanese cannot afford, but these are supposed to be signs of progress. This when thousands of Guyanese are waiting for lands or turnkey homes to say that they own. Do not say corruption when those who believe that the land that belongs to the Guyanese people is their personal property to play with as they boast of giving out thousands of house lots when there are still people who have been waiting for more than a decade.
Do not say corruption when ancestral lands are under threat. The ancestors scream from their graves when they see the sacrifices they made for their children being disregarded and trampled upon by the beast. Where their sweat and blood saturated the earth, from there their descendants can be bulldozed from their homes, assaulted and disrespected but foreigners and special family and friends can be given acres of prime lands to live their best lives in Guyana.
Do not say corruption when we have our own Ministry of Truth working overtime. The propaganda machine turns endlessly where little hands are working to sell the people dreams. The pathetic, sad and disgraceful bully, smear and seek to destroy some of those bold enough to oppose and question. They work to make the abusers of the people of this land seem like their saviours and to revise the history of this country. Extrajudicial killings, seem like justice, debates about the number that were killed seem more important than the fact that people were killed. Those who have eyes can see, those who have ears hear the whispers and see the efforts to lead many astray.
They work overtime to make the Ministry of Love seem like a friendly place. We must not say that this ministry perpetuates misery and suffering on the Guyanese people. We must not say that it aims to keep people living in fear. Their love and worship must be for those who continue to poke them in the eyes. When they hug the people, or dance with them, this is meant to show that they are of love, worthy of love and down to earth. It is irrefutable that the people of this country are loving, kind and docile and that is one of the reasons we have been abused for so long.
Do not say corruption for the Ministry of Peace exists. Even though there are campaigns against the people of this nation, it is we who are expected to keep calm and not stand in protest. It is we who are expected to coddle politicians and give them our votes even though they have showed us who they really are. The oligarchy stands. Those who believe they are invincible, or immortal will encounter the same fate as the rest of us and perhaps then they will realise that we all are equal.
