A professional lamented recently, the ongoing cry of the needs of citizens when exploring programmes for the needy, contending after so many programmes were done. The reality is that we have not been a proactive nation for too many years in the areas of understanding what our human pool has to offer that can be transferred into useful, independent resources against the inherited systems that were stable in the convenience of the colonial construct, but have withered as authorities watched helplessly. Where are the records on how the decline of the Guyana dollar destabilized an entire generation of retirees and shrank boasting bank accounts to beggars’ pouches? It doesn’t exist, nor are there official records, not just articles such as this, that chronicle the rise of the ‘Suitcase traders,’ the smuggling flour cartels, etc. To the evolution of importing marijuana then to planting marijuana; to the entrance of cocaine, the first local airstrips- that reality resulted in ‘National Geographic Magazine’ mapping the trafficking route that included Guyana’s involvement, established as early as 1985 onwards- obviously likely functioning before. See N-G January 1989. What was the impact of these social developments on the economics of the majority operating in the official zone? One word, ‘Devastating.’ WWhat were their thoughts when the normalcy declined? The interest lay in trafficking. The young saw through the tunnel vision of conspicuous consumption. The ‘Drug trade’ was the only answer. They compared on the facts of how their fathers lived, brought home earnings and yet they faced hunger in so many areas, for example. I was working at the GRB when it was burnt down in 1977. Shortly after there was a payoff of supervisors and other plant managerial staff. Casuals received their leave pay, but as time passed, most of the supervisors and managerial staff could be seen going to work as security guards. This, I learnt later, that the value of the retirement cheque was not adjusted to meet the economic changes that the country was going through since 1974. Earnings on the job were cushioned to meet standard-of-living needs through overtime payments, which were not a part of the evaluation. These citizens were impoverished instantly, retiring on an earning standard from an outdated union-management agreement that was applicable to a past era (that no one was honest enough to update). Likewise, closer to today, where are the statistics on how many citizens we have lost to narco-killings, how many as addicts, how many are alive as addicts? Most banks were comfortable with the ‘New Money’ until the money-laundering laws came into being (but there are ways around every law). How many households were affected, how many homes could not be repaired and the banks closed their doors? In the absence of any of the above records and no recognition, how can anyone propose to understand or evaluate the true condition of what is faced in their daily lives, what harmful adaptations they have become accustomed to, to state with authority, how on average, 80 percent of not-so-privileged Guyanese exist?

The first area that was damaged was the complete self-education desire thus, the values changed. The custom of reading has almost disappeared in the context of the novel among a greater percentage of our population thus, the past time that challenged the imagination, into fictional stories, many times based and characterised on real issues and personalities, in concepts that mirror scenarios that we can identify with. The lack of information is compounded, left to the interpretations of (for those who can read) reports and opinions in the media and social media. Without a deeper understanding of the answers to the varied and numerous ‘Why’s’?

Recently I ran into a senior citizen who was active in the administration of the La Penitence Wharf, Lombard Street. On exchanging greetings, I reminded him of my working on the repair of the wharf. At times, as a stevedore, the former project that didn’t go too well with the workers and the contractor, he remembered, we laughed. But then, I was a young man, so he engaged me on the now, as a mature adult; he related a predicament that seemed to be haunting him, the habit of Guyanese in the former decades that felt that it was the right thing to do with their savings, buy a house in America or England, then send their children overseas, “ I don’t hear from them, they hardly call, I’m on my own here?” I could hear the anger and pain in his voice, but that was happening with families right here; who abandoned their folks at the hospital, The Palms. I could recall one old man in a village was thrown on the road. Parents are murdered, older women especially living alone are targeted. But I said nothing. He wanted me to listen, so I did. He then shook my hand, forced a smile and we parted in good faith.

All nations in their evolution have had to look within as in olden African tribal kingdoms, when things stumble. And share of the royal stock that the tribes people contribute to, when all is good. The causes are always multiple, varied, unexpected and unpredictable, also an element of procrastination exists, grounded on the non-ability to address issues in openness and holistically, void of shut-button accommodations.