GUYANESE from the Diaspora, domiciled in Toronto, Canada, Mike Gomes, back in his homeland for a visit, wrote glowingly of Guyana’s progress since the PPP/C took office in 1992. He was among those who fled the Burnham regime and he recalled the state of Guyana 19 years after Burnham’s dictatorship began, when the World Bank and IMF declared Guyana a bankrupt state as poor as Haiti. He went to adumbrate some of the atrocities committed under Burnham’s illegal regime: “No electricity. As soon as night fell Burnham’s goons were out in full force dressed in military fatigues raiding people’s homes along the East Coast, West Coast, East Bank and West Bank corridor robbing them at gunpoint.
Wherever street corner meetings were held by the main Opposition party, or any other minor party, his goons appeared in truck loads armed with sticks and bottles, led by Rabbi Washington (real name David Hill, a known criminal in the United States) and beat everyone. We have just seen similar behaviour played out once again in Linden and Agricola, which were organised by the APNU and the AFC in 2012 (with both parties now jointly representing a one-seat majority political Opposition).
The sewer system backed up, filth oozing out the manholes, trenches and canals in the city stink with putrid water that created a haven for mosquitoes. Corruption was at an all-time high, hence a complete breakdown of law and order. I remembered waiting at the Transport and Harbours Department (THD) wharf for my shipment of casareep, the transport ship ‘The Lady Northcote’ ran out of diesel. On Burnham’s command by phone to Sprostons, a tugboat was sent out to the rescue. Burnham was the law!
Our entire railway system was sold out. This included two brand new engines that were presented as gifts from Ottawa, Canada to the state of Guyana on attaining our independence.
A colossal shame was brought on us when Jim Jones from the People’s Temple murdered 914 men, women and babies in our jungle.
Our airport facilities were in shambles and in a deplorable state. Two flights per week by B.W.I.A to ferry out the mass exodus of Guyanese migrating to foreign lands. This aircraft had to be refuelled in Trinidad.
The dictatorship passed a deliberate “show no mercy act” against our country by banning over 400 food items and medical supplies. The line-ups were long for scarce food items, even for sugar and rice, which were produced locally. Having a loaf of bread in your home was enough to land you in jail, while Burnham and his cronies enjoyed life in abundance.
The astute and great narrator Burnham said in one of his many famous speeches, and I quote: “Comrades, you better don’t get sick eh, they ain’t got no drugs and I ain’t bringing none in, if yuall get sick and go inside deh you ain’t coming back out alive; and comrades, I possess highly tempered steel and I give no quarter and I want none in return”. This was broadcast simultaneously on both Radio Demerara and G.B.S radio stations. As fate would have it, LFS Burnham became ill, was admitted to “deh” Georgetown Hospital and did not make it out alive. This is poetic justice.
Rigging of elections continued even after Burnham’s demise by his successor Desmond Hoyte who grabbed 85% of the votes (in elections of ‘85.)
The deliverance of our great nation that possesses so much wealth came in October 1992 when the ‘Poverty Nakedness and Crime’ (PNC) was voted out from office.
Please note that Hamilton Green, David Granger, Robert Corbin, Carl Greenidge and Raphael Trotman are all dead beats from Burnham’s illegal regime and are now under the disguise of APNU and AFC. They must never be voted into office ever again! Keep them out at all cost!”
Mr. Gomes’ missive continued in like vein; and then he went on to write in glowing terms of the absolutely transformed Guyana that he discovered on his return visit recently, a 100% turnaround from the wreck he and other Guyanese had fled from decades ago, leaving homes and properties, and even family members behind in desperate attempts to escape the reign of terror of the PNC regime.
Today, Guyanese are returning home in droves, eager to experience the re-vitalised and transformed Guyana. They are eager to invest their savings, and even their pensions in the country that is their heartland; but which they had to flee for mere existence in strange lands across the globe.
The only deterrents are the criminals and the violent and destructive Opposition-driven ‘protests.’ When one considers the continuum of inter-related activities between criminal elements and actions by leaders of Opposition political parties, then one cannot fail to come to the conclusion that criminal gangs and activities are Opposition-sponsored, like army guns being given to political leaders that are unaccounted for until today, but which are occasionally discovered when criminals are caught in the act of murderous rampages; PNC glorifying and draping with Guyana’s flag, creating a ‘hero’ out of Linden “Blackie” London, one of the most murderous criminals in the history of this country; the open and secret collaboration between the murderous members of the ‘Buxton resistance’ and leading members of an Opposition party; Nigel Hughes’ free defence of self-admitted killer of the innocent people – including sleeping babies in Lusignan and Bartica, as well as other deadly criminals; the violence, including shooting by an unlicenced firearm-holder within the bastion of the PNC – Congress Place, with the perpetrator going free; among an endless list of atrocities committed on the people of this land. The theatrics and fruitless gerrymandering in the Tenth Parliament, meant to derail developmental initiatives are an indication of what the governance of Guyana would be like under the current Opposition ‘leaders’, most of whose personal and professional lives, politics and financial transactions cannot stand public scrutiny.
Among the achievements of the PPP/C Government listed by Mr. Gomes is the approximately US$700M sitting in the Central Bank. He wrote: “Finally, I am proud to say that, as the LIAT aircraft that I travelled in approached the coast line of Georgetown coming in from Barbados, I looked down and was in awe at the amount of lights. For a moment Georgetown appeared to look like Puerto Rico; what a lovely sight.
Can one imagine what would happen to this reserve if the Opposition manages to get into Government? The lights that Mr. Gomes exulted in would be doused forever and Guyana would once again be plunged into the darkness of the past.