THERE is no other nationality that irritates the soul, lacerates the psyche and burdens the mind as the Guyanese nationality. Who are these people? Where did they come from? What is inside their objective mind? What shape is their subject mind? What essentially comprises their psychological essence?

I read that the European Chamber of Commerce Guyana (ECCG), had a luncheon and the feature address was given by businessman, Harold Hopkinson. I wanted to know if Mr. Hopkinson was one of several main speakers or the only featured speaker.  I visited the website of ECCG and pressed on the tab – “contact us.”

There were three names to communicate with for information on ECCG – its president, Alista Bishop, who has a business consultancy firm up the East Bank, Gregory Dean who is the former Chief Executive Officer of Digicel, and the Finance Controller of DDL, Vasudeo Singh.

I rang Ms. Bishop. I asked if she could tell me if there were other guest speakers apart from Mr. Hopkinson. She said she cannot give me that information. I was drinking hot coffee and her response caused me to jerk back on my chair and the coffee spilt and burnt my leg.

Now how can any normal human being host a luncheon, have a featured guest and simply cannot answer a media question as to if there were other speakers. Where did the ECCG get Ms. Bishop from? Can someone like Ms. Bishop advance the cause of ECCG? One thing for sure, if I open a business, the last person I would consult is Ms. Bishop.

Next, I rang Mr. Dean. He told me that as far as he knows Mr. Hopkinson was the only featured speaker. But there was a “but”, but Mr. Dean said he would not like to be quoted giving me that information since he is not the spokesperson for ECCG. I said two things to Mr. Dean. Firstly, that the information he gave me is a trillion times a harmless item that has absolutely no implication for him, the ECCG and Guyana.

Secondly, I told him the website of ECCG has no spokesperson but three persons that people are advised to contact: him, Ms. Bishop and Mr. Singh.

I helped myself to another cup of hot coffee before I called Mr. Dean and again the coffee spilt on my leg and burned me for the second time in minutes after I got the reaction of Mr. Dean.

Next, I rang Mr. Singh. He was polite and forthcoming. He said he cannot say if Mr. Hopkinson was the only speaker because he was not there at the luncheon and if Mr. Hopkinson was the only speaker or there were others and he was asked that question, he would have answered because he sees nothing wrong with the question.

I don’t think any human on Planet Earth would see anything wrong with such a prodigiously harmless question. I will always remember Ms. Bishop and Mr. Dean because I am in 38 years of journalism and I don’t think I have ever asked someone such a jejune, harmless, ordinary question. How can any human on Planet Earth host a luncheon, invite a featured speaker and when the press asked the sponsors if there were other main speakers, they declined to answer that simple question?

Now let’s come to Mr. Hopkinson and the EU Embassy in Guyana. Guyana is the fastest growing economy in the world and has the fastest rate of investment in the CARICOM area. I would have thought Mr. Hopkinson’s delivery would have been on business prospects and the business future in Guyana, but it was on homosexuality.

In delivering his speech on homosexuality Mr. Hopkinson descended to irritating levels of fiction.

He posited that discrimination exists against homosexual people in Guyana and secondly said Guyana suffers from skills deficiency when homosexual folks migrate because of their treatment in Guyana. Both points are non-starters. This country has one of the highest levels of tolerance for male and female homosexuals. Homosexual males and females occupy high places in every sphere of life in Guyana.

Secondly, the rate of homosexuals leaving Guyana and taking their skills elsewhere is infinitesimal and has absolutely no effect on Guyana’s skills bank.

The ECCG luncheon was no doubt facilitated by the EU Embassy. Did the Embassy recommend Mr. Hopkinson as the main speaker?

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.