I RETURNED from visiting my sister in Barbados to plan my marriage when I heard about the Jonestown tragedy. The hundreds that died in Jonestown were not Guyanese, but they were humans, and therefore it was a Guyanese tragedy. It was an enormous dent to the psychology of all Guyanese. We never saw anything like that in the world before, and it happened in Guyana.
I had just become a teenager when I read about the Sun-Chapman tragedy. I never wrote this before, but when I was six I travelled on the Sun Chapman with my parents’ first child, Gwendoline. Her boyfriend, Arthur Wilson lived in McKenzie, and on one visit to see him, she took me to spend the day. Arthur liked me so when my sister got a child for him, he insisted that his son be named after me.
Whatever the explanation for the Sun Chapman explosion, it took the lives of 43 Guyanese, and that was a tragedy of immense proportion when you think of the small population of Guyana. The Sun Chapman deaths were only exceeded by the Jonestown victims. But the shadow of someone devilish stalks Guyana. A few years ago a student allegedly set fire to the dormitory at Mahdia that she lived in, killing 20 students. Like the Sun Chapman, like Jonestown, like Mahdia, these enormous losses of life were unbearable for a young developing nation with a small population.
Now the shadow that stalks us is in our midst. The MV Barima ferry capsized on Saturday night in what school children in my days at school were taught to refer to as the Mighty Atlantic. At the time of writing, there appears to be dozens and dozens not accounted for, including children. It breaks the heart of any human when you read and hear about children perishing. You know that life is not supposed to be like that because they came into this world to see it and to live in it and that is an opportunity that they must have.
As I write, though I am not a religious person and a nonbeliever, I am keeping my hopes very high because I know the Mighty Atlantic can be an unfriendly place, whether in Guyana or whichever country it touches. On this incredibly sad day in Guyana’s history as a colony and as an independent state, there must be no political exploitation of this tragedy.
But it has happened and we should not forgive those who will use the lives of children to seek political gains. Our minds go back to the Adrianna Younge drowning. I have lived a long life to reach my seventies, and what I saw unfold in the Younge drowning incident I never thought I would see in this country.
A child lost her life because her guardians neglected to monitor movements beside a hotel pool. In one of the most shameful acts of moral turpitude, there were Guyanese that disregarded the death of that child and used her death to score political points. What will remain unforgivable is that the child’s family members participated in the conspiracy.
So here we are in Adrianna Younge 2.0. Let’s quote the Kiskadee Watch in an editorial about the tragedy: “Saturday night’s capsizing has laid bare the farce that President Ali’s government has presided over post-2020. Where or what is this farce the owners of Kiskadee Watch is referring to? The Guyana Government like all, not most but all governments have their faults.
But the nation of Guyana, the country of Guyana, the governance system of Guyana is as democratic as any other land on Planet Earth. What those who criticise democracy refuse and will continue to do is to name other countries that have a more democratic performance than Guyana.
So here we are once more and the dark minds that live in our midst. A huge tragedy occurs in Guyana and the Kiskadee Watch uses the tragedy to score anti-government political points. What is the relevance in discussing the tragedy to refer to the farcical government of Guyana since 2020?
Here is what the editorial of the Kaieteur News noted about people talking about the tragedy: “Many harsh words have been aimed at the PPP/C government, and they seem to have some basis.” On what basis can someone hold the government responsible for a ferry toppling after a monster wave in the Might Atlantic? The former Georgetown Mayor, Ubraj Narine is a Hindu priest, but he disregarded the sacred tenets of Hindu Dharma, and he uses the tragedy for political purposes. Should we forgive those who use this tragedy for anti-government purposes?

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.