Nice piece, kari. Guyana's voice should be heard form many who visited before any tears can fall from our eyes. Every country had its ups and down and Guyana is not exempted. However, Guyana is striving in the midst of an opposition crisis that will do anything to bring down a working government. With all due respect, we all have eyes and ears and we listen to the cry of our people. I have to give you credit to see the people's problem up close and personal. But, to be fair, we must listen what other like yourself has to say. You will agree, guyana is a far better place today than when you once knew it.

So when you movin back cobra?

Just after you...

Kari them men find the oil?    I hope them men are not crying. 

It's easy to have 20/20 hindsight and talk of the ills of Jagdeo.  When he was a lil alter-boy back in the early 2000 Indians were being slaughtered like flies at the behest of a PNC push for back door power, where were all the pundits?   Jagdeo and his inner team had to make some tough decisions to bring control back to the nation and assert the PPP and himself as an effective Govt.  Had he not, he and the PPP would have gone down as the greatest failures of any nation on this planet.  Today's tough hard-nosed Jagdeo and elements within the PPP are a product of these cathartic days, not counting the 28 years of brutality and oppression under which the average Indian was forced to "exist".

As I said, being a war general in an easing chair 3,500 miles away is an easy and low-risk proposition and most of us are perfect at it.

My son recently started driving and on his first trip said he never realized how difficult it is, he now has to make the judgement calls, be responsible for monitoring the dash-board, speed and everything around him.  Back seat driving, 20/20 hindsight and theoretical dissertations on perfect driving are no longer options.

 Very good  observation  Kari! The  big  question is  can  we achieve  that "dichotomy of progress" and  bypass the  "trajectory that's far from uplifting"?  is  the the rampant  corruption that that  is  so obvious  unavoidable? I think not! With  honest  and  caring  leadership,  Guyana  could  have  been firmly on the  road  to the Singapore model.

I keep hearing from the economic types talks about the Singapore model, but I wonder if again people are being realistic? Would that model which started in the 60's be applicable to Guyana which has low skilled workers, no technology to talk about and a corrupt minded population. We are comparing apples to oranges.

Talk is Cheap, like saying India is a 2nd China.  Singapore did not become Singapore by accident or by someone waking up one morning and had a revelation.  Before talking about Singapore, Guyana should set it's sights on a few of it's smaller neighbors and overcome that hurdle.  Singapore is rubbing shoulders with the likes of Switzerland in human development.  Guyana is like a Pluto in the distance.

a proven LIAR, hatemonger and crude tribal . . . stil hustlin with the same ole, same ole . . .

Welcome back Kari.

Looks like we are getting back to the good ole days of GNI!

Guyana is what it is because of hyperpartisanship not only of the political structures but of the population itself, who support it. Acknowledgement of this phenomenon/fact is crucial to changing the system. All organized civic organizations which claim to speak for and on behalf of the nation/country have very strong political party alignments and loyalty to the point where one can see clearly it is a political party puppet. People still gauge progress and prosperity according the PNC and PPP instruments of measure as if these are the universal systems of measure.

Take for instance the AFC, which broke records in two elections, proved there are significant numbers of Guyanese who not only want changes but are acting on their wishes and desires but are now being betrayed because the AFC is losing the C and are not only picking up PPP trash to fill their rank  and file but are also tangoing with the PNC while ignoring the reason why they formed and challenged the system.

So, who is going to hold the PPP and PNC responsible and accountable if the AFC has been suckered into the PPP versus PNC game of political monopoly? When a society suffers fractures as Guyana does expect nothing but corruption, nepotism, favoritism, or in plan words Rascality and Skullduggery.Put the PNC in power tomorrow and they, having observed the PPP over the past 14 years will do better than the PPP and Burnham collectively- in tiefing ! The PNC will become the new Prada. Give the AFC another election and added volume of PPP and PNC trash to their rank and file and they too will become like the PPP and PNC.

How does it end? how can it end ? when does it end ? Soros indicated he would pay any amount of money to get GW Bush out of office and Koch et al said they will pay any amount of money to get Obama out of office, while the small people, the little people, are all throwing in their $5, and $10 dollar to achieve the same for their political choices. Everyone is right and no one is wrong unless and until the voters use their ballot to make determinations.

In a nutshell , Guyana is in sh1t because the people have become sh1t ! I see right here in NYC. The virus was brought here to NYC by Guyanese , it is not a new phenomenon. Since the creation of the PPP, then PNC, then UF, the entire social structure of the Guyana has been undermined and nothing has been done to repair and restore civic awareness and responsibility much less morality and ethics. Boat gan aah fall ! wait when dem hit OIL.. is den yuh gon see corruption crime and all else these two attract.

If you saw the press release you would know that oil is there but because of an environmental technical issue the rig had to be shut down. Another is scheduled for early Fall. They ain't crying.

Sure looks right. Haven't seen a discussion with this mount of civility here in a while. Its usually blame the PPP, accuse this body or that body of being a thief without any evidence. But wait till certain people descend on this discussion.........

Base....perfectly understandable comments. Jagdeo indeed ruled with steel. And yes, Indians were targeted during the run up to the 2002 Mash jailbreak. Your sentiments about backseat driving is well-taken, but it always irk me when,even if I were to live on Mars and I still have a fair grasp of what's happening on earth, that I hear your palliative about being 3,500 miles away and believing we know about Guyana and can fix it. I got a brain. And moreover there are undeniable truths that can;t be avoided. My polemic was meant to stir critical thought and not to elicit defensive responses. We should ask, given Jagdeo's strengths, could it have been done better?

I always am of the view that if you have an intelligent workforce regard for life and all the niceties of human behavior come naturally. I do not wish to demean agricultural work, and I have friends in Wakenaam who are agricultural workers and are smart bright people. However, you have to ask how much intellectual activity goes into what 75% of Guyanese do, including clerical civil service jobs.

As long as we keep the responses smart and helpful and not demagogue-ing it.

Kari, I respect your Balanced reportingof the Guyana situation. I have to tell you it ids far different from what TK/Redux told Guyanese at Brooklyn. Pres ramotar is weak cause he should arrest Hinds, Benshit, TK and Jail them for inciting Violence.

Yet people in the USA are retiring and going back to Guyana to live. Every other person I run into, has a house in Guyana, and inviting me to stay when I visit.

Well water and AC too!

kiss up as usual

Who do you think he is blameing when he says "political power is being used to redistribute State's wealth and assets to cronies"Instead of kissing his ass you should ask him to provide "evidence" 

LFS's economic policies resulted in severe food shortages which kick-started and underground economy unparalleled anywhere in our history. It made millionaires out of a few and papeurized a vast many. Kari, don't forget that two pounds of flour that Winston Murray gave you as a humanitarian gesture on the part of the PNC so your mama could cook you roti. Times have changed and people have moved along, but lets not thread on that path again. Things are not perfecto but our people live free and enjoy a better quality of life today. Lets move forward and never allow our country to be caught between the clutches of the PNC ever again.

Based on previous posts you appear to be a frequent visitor to Suriname.  Given that there are similarities (resource based economies, huge overseas diaspora....even by C'bn standards, multi ethnic and a tragic political history and corruption) how do you compare the two?

cobra the PPP is as much to blame as the oppoistion and in fact this is the very reason why the environment that Kari describes exists.

Many (mainly elite AfroGuyanese) saw that Burnham was an ogre but to this day still justify him.  Why? Ethnic loyalty and the feeling that he protected the interests of (elite) blacks against Indian encroachment.

You know full well what Kari describes is true but you excuse the PPP out of ethnic loyalty and a feeling that the interests of (elite) Indians are being protected against African (elites).

In neither regime did the grass roots supporters benefit....pitiful fact that their elites exploited their ethnic paranoia.

So are you a PPP elite?  We hear frequently that the PPP grass rots are being ignored....though they think that the beneficiaries are grass roots Africans..which is a joke.

We have now had 46 years of ethnically based elite cronyism (with some tokens from other groups) empowered by the ethnic insecurities of the masses.

As usual you ignore the fact that Africans were also being slaughtered like flies and it has not been established that these were all criminals.  You  "forgot" about Agricola and about Lindo Creek and Bartica was a multi racial blood bath.  IMHO you didnt forget.  You just dont have any regard for the daths of non Indians.

Given that no senior PNC official has been found guilty is also has not been established that the Lusignan murders (I assume this is what you mean "Indians being killed like flies) can be blamed on the PNC.  Indeed some allege that Fineman was sometimes a phantom.

I suspect if one day we discover the truth it will be way more complicated than you think it is and might be a battle of drug connected elites with shifting political alliances.  Indeed there are those who say that Sat Sawh was killed by people hired by PPP connected elites.

In the mid 60s Guyana had an educational system that was much admired and Singapore was no better off than we were. 

They invested heavily in educating their workers. 

We instead supported TWO ethnically based elites who have destroyed the country.

Without gold and remittances where would Guyana be today?

His reporting wa swell balanced.  Yours however shows your usual racist bias and paranoia.  You do not know a thing about Guyanese in Brooklyn and need to stop babbling about it.  They are too busy paying for their homes, working hard...or trying to find jobs so theyu can work hard, and raising their kids to be obsessed with what two corrupt and racist parties in Guyana are up to.

Benschop returned to Guyana and wa shaield as a hero by the PPP.  As usual they like to support the fraudulent soup lickers and now belly ache when this self interested character got angry with them.  The PPP knows fully well why they dont jail him as he knows lots of things that they dont want the public to know.

Thanks to the USA/Canada they have acquired sufficient assets to finance this and once costs remain low in Guyana its beats being retired and living in the USA.

Paramaribo is a clean, well-ordered city and the contrast with Georgetown is very evident. There is a lot more commerce and enterprise in Georgetown though. I see the robust growth in some parts of Georgetown like the days of the wild west - huge buildings going up and lots of activity in the service sector (entertainment and restaurants). The people in the rice areas have benefited greatly from rising rice prices and you could see their expansion in housing and the way they spruce up their homes. Gold price rises have also contributed to a growing sense of wealth in some areas. One good legacy of Jagdeo was land reform. Tuschen was an eye-opener, and this is not laundered money as in the Georgetown suburbs. And Parika is booming. I was quite surprised at how Charity has grown, and soon Anna Regina will overtake sleepy (by-passed, since the Berbice river bridge) New Amsterdam. Even the Molsen Creek crossing has meant a pull back in stopovers in Corriverton.

The truth shall set you free. Thank you kari for the report. I have been saying for a long time now that vGuyana is 10 times better now that 1992. Dat the Caribjs of the World can put in their Pipes and do whatever pleases them.

Lets give credit to the success of some businesses in G/town to our Afro Brothers and Sisters from the diaspora who spend their earnings from abroad lavishly. Thank you, you are doing your country a great favor when you spend generously rather than be tight with every penny.

Imagine GR and TK are broadcasting in NA that Guyana is a "COOLIE" Govt who are taking advantage of "Black People" and Moses is condoning such statements by not denouncing them. Where do you stand MOSES???? Are you trading to the highest BIDDER?? Where are your HIGH MORALS you claim to have?????

Well people did warn that the bridge wil mean the demise of New Amsterdam which has lost its role as a hub.

Why should Moses denounce them if he knows they are correct.

The PPP had an opportunity to argue against this perception last year and all Luncheon could say is that he didnt know and that AfroGuyanese lacked the qualifications for top slots.

If the PNC under Burnham was an Afro govt then clearly the PPP is an Indo govt.  In both decision making positions were/are almost exclusively the domain of one ethnic group.

I dont see Kari crediting the PPP except in land tenure. He credits high rice and gold prices, in addition to PPP cronyism and drug trafficking. 

But for that people would not be able to build/maintain housing on the lands that they have received.

You do know that rice and gold prices have nothing to do with the PPP.

Clearly you existed on the other side of the PNC guns and boots, so it's perfectly understandably that you will have no idea.  You don't know what you don't know.

Kari, I understand that things could be better, it always could be, even in the great USA, but it's not.  No leader is perfect, you yourself must admit the colossal failure of Obama to right the US economy, in the shadow of all his other successes and likability attributes.

The biggest failure of the PPP is not the limitations of any specific individual, but in its failure to have well balanced and committed teams of individuals to throttle development and manage the affairs of the people.  This issue transcends Jagdeo, he is a victim of this paradigm which has taken root in the PPP long before he was a significant factor.

Ramotar has an opportunity for a new start by entertaining the concept of engaging new/fresh talents in executing that nations business.  He should also engage the progressive elements within the PNC in an effort to bring reconciliation and improved harmony in the nation.  He should do this without sacrificing the gains achieved this far.  There is no going back to pre-1992, let's get that straight.

President Donald Ramotar should pursue these opportunities.

I was not referring to Fineman's tirade but to all which preceded, mainly pre-1996 "phantoms".  Jagdeo punched the fire-breathing dragon in the eyes saving many Indians, Afros and other lives.

The unprecedented murders and mayhem in Guyana ended when Fineman and the other soldiers on the 'wrong' side in the drug cum 'political' wars were eliminated and the emergent top dawg, RK, was driven out of Guyana (much to the dismay of Jagdeo & the PPP) into the arms of the DEA and US justice.

those are the facts