By Francis Quamina Farrier

BETWEEN the hustle and bustle and all the pre-Christmas sounds in commercial downtown Georgetown, methinks I heard a strange voice. If you paid rapt attention, when you were downtown during last week doing another segment of your 2022 Christmas shopping, you might have heard the very same voice. It was that of the century-old Stabroek Market, also familiarly called “Big Market” by many citizens of the capital city of Guyana. Big Market had quite a lot to say last week, but certainly not the time of the day or night.

That Big Market clock has not functioned for many, many years, and citizens no longer glance up to its face to get an idea of the time – even though it would show the right time twice every day – but just for a fleeting moment. There are some negative things in life which are better ignored or better left unsaid. I guess the non-functioning of the largest clock in the Cooperative Republic of Guyana is one of them.

Both Guyanese and non-Guyanese alike continue to discuss the financial improvements of Guyana, as it is being transformed from “One of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere” to one of the richest countries in the world. With the increasing income from oil and gas, projects such as the maintenance of the country’s municipal markets – Stabroek, Bourda, LaPenitence, Kitty, Linden, New Amsterdam, Anna Regina, Port Mourant, Corriverton, Bartica, Charity, Lethem and others, should pose no problem.

What is necessary is that those in the seats of power think broadly and follow the established theme of “One Guyana” where all communities are treated fairly. No community in Guyana must be treated as “The Little Boy that Santa Claus Forgot.”