THE Linden issue is a representation of a community which was placed in a position where they believe that it is their “God given right” to live a charmed life at the expense of the rest of the country. They were enabled into this privileged position by the former PNC administration, due to the sterling contribution that community gave by way of votes and other miscellaneous acts to the PNC.
The PPP/C administration continued that trend when the civic component was added to the party when former Lindener Samuel Hinds joined the party and thus began the Guyana chapter of affirmative action.
Commentators brand this kind of strategem as narrow, divisive and in an overall sense volatile.
The question is why was this situation permitted to happen right here in beautiful, poverty-stricken Guyana? And the answer eludes my limited intelligence.
Linden is an example of affirmative action of the worst kind. I make no apologies for this. So the frantic rush to undo this near four decades long situation is a monstrous task confronting the administration or, to muzzle the monster which they have created in the first place is altogether an uphill task.
As the story goes, the processing of calcined bauxite required a lot of energy and much of the energy generated was being wasted, hence Alcan distributed the excess current free of cost to the surrounding community known as Mackenzie. With the brainless nationalisation plan of the industry in 1971 this trend continued with the PNC government, this time with renewed emphasis, the place was renamed after its “owner” Burnham coupled with the fact that  it was the party’s stronghold. Therefore the special favours granted became more pronounced as the years went by.
Come 1976 however, the bauxite industry and by extension the country became bankrupt and all sorts of troubling setbacks set in; yet the largesse at Linden continued. Although the country could not have carried itself financially, it still fetched Linden’s wasteful costs. So when the PPP/C came into power, they having full knowledge of this, why did they continue the trend?
Proper planning would have dictated that Linden’s horse pull its own oats long before now; at least in an incremental fashion.
What causes my blood to boil is that workers in the sugar industry were not remotely close to the crumbs that fell from Linden’s table. When you compare the two industries salary wise, the pay packets of the two workers were like night and day.
The Wimpey boys’ take-home pay and pensions were far superior to a sugar worker at any given time; not forgetting his allowances and other priviledges. I speak with authority on this because I have four uncles who left sugar and went over to bauxite. In this regard, I challenge anyone to prove me wrong on these facts. So partiality and poor judgement by the administration is cause for its undoing.
When the Lindeners realised that they had no leg to stand on they quickly changed their tune to one of theirs being a depressed community. Now, where in Guyana can one find a situation where life is an easy street? I beg the talkers of such nonsense to bear me out on this one. To drive home the point more forcefully I again turn to the sugar worker and his experience during  out-of-crop periods. If that sugar worker does not get off his hindquarters and take up his castnet and catch some “cacabelly” (I would humbly ask the editor to publish the said word for emphasis) that worker is sure to starve. The bauxite industry has no out-of-crop season, so what’s the gripe? I say none whatsoever.  What Lindeners firmly believe is that they are a superior group of persons who somehow must get special treatment come what may. Therefore, as one of the “revolutionaries” puts it “we are gonna fight for we rights.” What rights are they talking about?
Lastly, amidst all the protesting the focus is on Linden and only Linden, what about the bauxite workers at Bermine? Weren’t they affected by the same downturn in the bauxite industry? Seems like “human beings” do not exist in Berbice.
Let me tell you the response I got from my friend and supporter of the Linden struggle: “People does live in Berbice, what the hell Berbicians want with light? So there you have it the contempt the r*** pass that others have for a people by whose franchise they are kept in government speaks volumes. No wonder the people from that constituency spoke in the way they did in the last general elections. Linden can be afforded the services of WOW (Women OF Worth), a programme geared towards the employment of its single mothers; yet they could say the government has done nothing to alleviate their depressed state. In the same token what have they – government – done for Berbice and by extension other poor communities? On this note I rest my case.