WHEN Minister Annette Natasha Ferguson cut the ribbons to officially open the Kitty Roundabout, I didn’t think there would be so much pride and fun in welcoming a brand-new, modern feature in our society. In spontaneous happiness, I took the scissors from her, cut out a silk bouquet from the ribbons, and handed it to her.

Those glorious scissors were once used when we were a majority parliamentary opposition as a symbol of struggle to cut down the-then minority government’s excessive and unjustified spending of public moneys. These days, since we have become the majority government, the scissors are deployed in celebratory events over moneys properly spent for the public good.

I saw the legendary Dave Martins (with or without The Tradewinds) striking a high note for the Roundabout, when he advised a handful of ‘Facebookers’ to stop bad-talking the project.

I could imagine that that type of negative response to, or lack of appreciation at a higher level of our societies for, any and everything good or great could have led Martins to sing his famous song, “Where are our Heroes, Caribbean?”

However, when outside or away from Guyana, some of the same Facebookers would be quick to take out their cameras, now phone-cum-cameras, for snapshots of a Roundabout – whether in Delhi, Paris, Trafalgar Square, or even in Port of Spain! They rightly would cherish the moment since, as the saying goes, a thing of beauty is a joy forever!

IMPRESSIVE LIST
I suspect that the real angst and unhappiness of a few are, at core, political. They are not about the object but over the fact that the Coalition Government is doing something good, and is adding to an already impressive list of achievements.

The Coalition could have cut ribbons for finding new markets for our rice and paddy after the former regime left our farmers high and dry when Venezuela imposed a trade embargo against us. The former regime put salt into the farmers’ wounds by bankrupting the Petro Caribe Fund, and raided moneys from such places as the Rice Board and the Guyana Marketing Corporation.

Today, smiles are returning to the faces of rice farmers, who not only enjoy accessible markets but new varieties of paddy that already have yielded close to 40 bags per acre.
The cheers I see today have taken me down memory lane when, as a child in my village, Indo-Guyanese farmers would trek on foot to the back dam to either plant or reap their rice crops. Women, clad in colourful traditional saris, fetched on their heads wooden trays with fruits and flowers, and home-made ‘persad’ (sweets), as they beat their drums and sing joyful songs of praise and gratitude.

I look forward to shortly join our grateful people in the next ribbon-cutting at Parika to commission the West Coast Demerara Highway, and the others to follow, such as the Mahdia, Mabaruma and East Bank Berbice roads, which are in advanced stages of completion. Next in line is the project to resurface the Canal No. 1 Polder Road.

Completed and almost ready for ribbon-cutting ceremonies are lamps on the Mocha/Arcadia road and the Corentyne Highway; bridges at Liliendaal and Good Hope; the Hosororo tumeric factory and the Pakaraima Sun-Dried Tomato factory.

RESERVOIRS
I had set aside a new pair of scissors for the handing-over ceremony of the Nappi Water Reservoir which was done the day before I left the country on a medical emergency. Minister Raphael Trotman had graciously invited me to cut the ribbon at this reservoir in the Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo (Region 9) which has a capacity for 4.5 million cubic metres of clean water, to meet adequately the needs of farmers in times of drought.

Just a few days ago someone reported that six inches of rain had fallen in Parishara, and there were fears of flooding. But Vice-President Sydney Allicock quickly retorted that that was a “good flood” as the excess water has been absorbed by the reservoir.

I understand that a more ambitious water project in the Rupununi is awaiting further, free, prior and informed consent. This US$15M IDB-funded project, planned for location at Pirara, will become the base of the Hinterland Sustainable Agricultural Development Programme, that could see the complete transformation of the vast savannahs.

I also missed the jubilant beating of drums and ribbon-cuttings for the launching of Radio Aishalton and Radio Orealla, as well as those for the 120 ICT Hubs that have been established across Guyana under the e-governance programme of the Ministry of Public Telecommunications.

Soon, ribbon-cutting will become a new fad and our people will look forward to being present at the celebration of new projects whether it is a bridge in Canal No. 1 Polder, the construction of duplexes and single-family homes, and futuristic complexes such as the new Bertram Collins College of Public Service and the spanking new-look, bright-green Ministry of the Presidency!

It is not my intention here to catalogue every school, every health centre, every police station or other public buildings that have been repaired, renovated or built anew, such as, the most recent, the Arthur Chung Conference Centre. I wanted to show that good things are happening in Guyana, and that we can no longer adopt the suck-teeth approach that these are not important.

Improvements in the quality of our life come from many projects which have to be owned-up by our people, and protected by them.

REPORT VANDALS
They have to report the vandals who break water mains, cut telephone wires or interfere with power poles. They have to suck their teeth at folks who drive heavy-duty machinery on bridges and farm roads, or use tractors with iron cages on their wheels on public roadways. They have to feel offended when sand trucks use active roadways to park and to sell their cargoes, or dump their cargoes on the parapets.

If we learn to applaud the beautification of Guyana, we would take offence at miscreants who despoil our historic monuments, clog our canals and trenches with plastics and other garbage, or tamper with traffic signs and road lamps. We have to end the “don’t-care-a-damn” attitude!

This is the time to re-motivate our people, promote respect for community and national development and re-awaken confidence in our country and our democratic system.