Dear Editor,
FRENZIED spectators crowded South Dakota to start last week with hair-raising car and motorbike racing. President Ali was needed in Brazil to champion the cause of CARICOM, as he accompanied other Heads of Government. Rushing back to Wakenaam, Dr Irfaan Ali gave the people a new life with a well and development plan for a solar system, new roads, and, repairing the rice industry. The first case of Monkeypox in Guyana was announced. Residents in South Georgetown will be given a four-lane road to help with their traffic woes. The roads in Kwakwani will have a $327M facelift. Education Minister Manickchand, Headteacher Cosbert and others turned the sod for the $566.9M reconstruction of the North Ruimveldt School which was partly destroyed by fire. The GNBS will soon sport a new US$12M lab. The Prime Minister led a five-person delegation to Canada for the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference. Canada is funding a migrant project in Region Seven. Licensed foreigners will no longer need a permit to drive in Guyana for 60 days from the time of arrival. All roads led to the National Cultural Centre Saturday where the return of Naya Zamana took centre stage once again. Do have a telling week and spare a tickling moment to think on the trailing thoughts:

1)     “Norton can’t bully the government or the country into not having Local Government Elections…,” exclaimed Vice-President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo. Norton has to beware of Minister Vindhya Persaud, who said that bullies will not be tolerated.
2)     “We’ve put our party in a readiness mode,” Dr Jagdeo declared. The Opposition Leader can only talk about starting an election campaign!
3)     “Now, Norton comes from a party that has a history of acting unconstitutionally in several instances,” stated the General-Secretary of the PPP/C.  The PNC is universally known for fraud, rigging and total disregard for law and order.
4)     Norton has announced that they will not participate in (Local Govt. Elections) and also threatened to block any elections from being held if the voters’ list is not cleansed. The LoO has nakedly exposed himself in the public!
5)     “The government is an enabler to open up opportunity,” President Ali reminded the Caribbean forum. The PPP/C government has created thousands of job opportunities in its two-year administration. On the contrary, it was David Granger from the PNC who said, “There is no magic wand. The government cannot provide jobs in the government service, in the Police Force or the Defence Force. Employment is not something to be provided by the government.”
6)     “The Heads of Government have agreed that if we are not all ready to move, then we must move with those who are ready,” Guyana’s Head of State stressed, The PPP/C government will not wait on stragglers and those who cannot keep pace with a fast-moving administration. Slow coaches must not impede progress and production.
7)     “We have to start eating what we grow and growing what we eat,” advised Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley. She wants everyone to be local and buy local!
8)     “Never in my life, not even in my youth, have I ever used any drugs,” confessed 36-year-old Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin. Youths need to follow her as a role model and an example to pattern.
9)      “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.” Perfect quote to fit “you know who.”
10)                        “Having a small refinery here could make a big difference for energy security…” VP Jagdeo cautioned. Guyana is biting what it can chew.
11)                        EU Ambassador to Guyana, Fernando Ponz Canto in his mixed parting remarks, said, “I’m happy because I leave the country at a moment where I think it is taking off. And there is a bright future happening now. I’m also sad because I love this country. And part of me would like to stay behind, of course.” So much for the naysayers!
12)                        “If this isn’t eye pass to the nation, then Glenn doesn’t know what is,” Glenn Lall declared. He’s right, with Norton threatening GECOM Chair, the entire nation is appalled!
13)                        “They have offered their technology, their investments, their partnership and their commitment,” President Ali explained about the State of Roraima. Here is a President who is working tirelessly, so that Guyana can achieve maximum optimum in production.
14)                        “I want you to come home,” President Ali told Guyanese living in Trinidad and Tobago. Indeed, there is no place like home, and, Guyana is home.
15)                        “When you sign a contract with them, you are locked into a price,” Farmer Fraser mentioned about Exxon. Now the oil company needs more tomatoes and this is creating scarcity and high prices! Lopsided tomato contract? What next!
16)                        “I think this is precisely the trap they are hoping to set once again,” Mr Jagdeo declared. “We are not going to fall into that trap again,” he continued. Once bitten, twice shy. Let the games begin.
17)                        “If false information is provided by statutory agencies with the purpose of corrupting an election, then the people who provided that information should face the consequences. So, I am going to urge that that happens,” the fearless Dr Jagdeo declared. The PNC needs to seize this golden opportunity. Do nothing, fear nothing!
18)                        “Neither is there a singular policy of State or Government to which they can advert to aid their perfidious hypothesis,” Minister of Legal Affairs summed up. Dr Vishnu Bisram Asked, “Are the brains of the organisers and listed speakers really working smartly? Are they not concerned about the embarrassment of the heading of the rally?” Well, what can you expect from those who claim 33 is not the majority of 65?
19)                        “Functioning health systems are the foundation of health security,” PAHO Director, Dr Carissa F. Etienne advised. Thankfully, the PPP/C government and Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony saved this country and its people from the clutches of death due to the former administration’s negligence and mismanagement.
20)                        “Afro-Guyanese still remain in the darkness as it relates to the benefits of the close to half a billion dollars utilised,” VP Jagdeo said about IDPADA-G. In this age when the Coalition is clamouring for equitable treatment for Afro Guyanese, where is the Indo Guyanese equivalent association to utilise such funding also?
21)                        “If the world is willing to help, keeping a tree standing in the Amazon may be worth more than any [other] investment,” Brazil’s presidential frontrunner Lula da Silva commented. Planting a tree to save the soil will help to reduce global warming.
22)                        “We want to thank the government and his Cabinet and GWI for this gesture,” said Wakenaam’s resident Mansarally. The PPP/C government continues to fulfil its commitments to the nation as promised.
23)                        Those who claim to be equal but are more equal than others, based on the equation 33 is not the majority of 65, have no moral right to speak on behalf of anyone.
24)                        Acting Chief Justice Roxanne George declared, “The President’s efforts were not reciprocated in a reasonable manner by Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton.” A bully knows how to clap with one hand!
25)                        “IDPADA-G was basically hijacked by Cuffy 250 and funded by former Gov {sic} to campaign during the election. Because we didn’t join their political bandwagon they sidelined us and we had to leave,” the Rastafari Council said through its Facebook page. No sound and sober-minded person will want to deliberately join the evil of malfeasance.
26)                        A resignation from the National Assembly after years of service, reflects recklessness (retardedness?), repugnance, regret and remorse.
27)                        “Whenever he makes those wild, reckless and unfounded allegations about unlawfulness of the list, then the government, being a stakeholder, is entitled to speak,” the Attorney-General advised. Even a few adults need to be given the $30,000 “Because We Care” grant, in order to return to school!
28)                        “We are looking forward to having sports this year, inter-house, inter-school, inter-region and national sports,” Education Minister Priya Manickchand announced. Sorry kids, regardless of monkeypox, chickenpox or COVID-19, “Big Jail” opens on the 5th September 2022.
29)                        As Biden forgives $US10K in student loans for millions, the PNC party forgets that they had increased student fees at UG in their call for free tertiary education!
30)                        “Necessity is the Mother of Invention” the Earl reminds us as he points out, “making rain to combat drought isn’t something the world’s scientists have been known to have been exploring.” Global warming is certainly now a hot topic globally and demanding the world’s immediate attention.
31)                        New York City Mayor, Mr Eric Adams, an Afro American, boldly stated, “Hate has no place in Richmond Hill (Little Guyana). Hate has no place in New York City. Hate has no place in our country.” His vibration should reverberate in Guyana to sound the same message, warning hate agitators and instigators who perpetually insinuate and encourage the spread of hate in Guyana, to desist from this disastrous and despicable distaste.
32)                        “People are not idle because of the lack of things to do. They are idle because they choose not to do things. And for that, the government should not be blamed,” piped the peeper. A country with a smart government must have a wiser population, so that the people will always blame the government for everything!
A King became a Queen. How’s that umpire? Andrea King smiled her way to be crowned Miss World Guyana 2022. Rashumba Bacchus is smiling after copping the Miss Catre-Cal-Ab African Heritage crown. Two-hundred LBI house lot recipients are smiling with their allocations. Region Six is smiling with hundreds of telemarketing job opportunities. Corporal Jermin Harvey is smiling all the way to India for the Young Bandsman Course. Guyana is smiling with 16 medals at the International Robotics Competition. Wakenaam residents are smiling with the commissioning of a new $50M well. Anuja Singh is smiling with her social media marketing scholarship to India. 4,000 part-time workers in Region Six are smiling with their $40,000 monthly payment. By the end of the year, 3,000 ECD residents will be smiling with their house lots. Guyana Amazon Warriors (male and female) are smiling with their exclusive sponsors, ExxonMobil. Deputy British High Commissioner to Guyana, Her Excellency Judy Kpogho, is smiling with the completion of the first phase of the $4B expansion at the Mazaruni Prison. Ashley Khalil is smiling after winning gold for Guyana’s senior squash team. Barbados Prime Minister is smiling after landing safely in Guyana to enjoy the Guyanese hospitality because she knows, “Colours are the smile of nature.”

Yours respectfully,
Jai Lall