earching for Munch and Crunch and ending up in a ‘shithole’ country
My Saturday column should have been on what I saw Friday morning in Georgetown that was terrible. But the Court of Appeal decision on the no-confidence vote (NCV) took priority and for my Sunday column I wanted to be on my appeal to Chris Ram not to go ahead with his libel writ against Desmond Trotman of the WPA.
So here I am writing today on the nonsense that I saw on Friday morning that confirms my belief this is the most enduring wasteland on Planet Earth. Before we get into that let’s offer some evidence on what a ‘shithole’ country Guyana is. I am typing this column on the dot of 2 PM Sunday afternoon.
Since a particular street in Kingston has to be mentioned in the story that I am writing on. I wanted to make sure I got the location and street name accurately.
It is the street that runs from west to east on which you can locate the Marriott, the Pegasus, Transport and Harbours Dept., NCERD of the Ministry of Education, etc. The best place to call was the relevant offices of the Guyana Police Force.
I called the numbers listed for the following: Traffic at Eve Leary; Traffic Department and Enquiries Desk at Brickdam Police Station; Switchboard for ‘A’ Division and ten more numbers in the directory.
No one answered any of those numbers. I tried for about ten minutes. This is one of the most crime infested countries in the world. This is a country with one of the highest road accidents in the world.
Let us say I was at my window and saw a crime being committed or a hit and run, there is no way I could have made contact with the police. I honestly would like to hear Khemraj Ramjattan’s explanation for what I experienced at 2PM yesterday.
Back to what I saw on Friday afternoon, after walking my dog on the Camp Road seawall, I drove down Camp Road and made a right into Barrack Street. I was heading for Mattai’s Supermarket on Water Street. That is the only place in Guyana that sells a particular dog treat, which my pet loves. It is manufactured by a company that goes under the name “Munch and Crunch.” The particular treat is named, “cocktail sausage.”
I couldn’t get out of Barrack Street; traffic was immobilized. The police cordoned off High Street from Lamaha Street to prevent demonstrations in front of GECOM offices due to the pending court decision on the NCV.
I eventually got out of Barrack Street and tried several other roadways to get to Mattai’s but did not succeed.
Georgetown is a small capital. When the police block a major artery in the city, the back-up spills over in a large number of other pathways making access to where a driver wants to get impossible.
The police, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure or the Ministry of Public Security just cannot wake up a morning and decide they will close of a main road in the capital. No person in authority with a sane mind does that EXCEPT in Guyana. Not to mention we were talking about Friday when traffic is very heavy because it is the end of the work week.
My question is, if security were a priority was there any other way to cope with demonstrations other than closing off High Street? This nonsense by the relevant authorities must come to an end.
When the Demerara Assize of the High Court officially opens, they hold the ceremony in the courtyard and they block off all the surrounding streets in the vicinity of the High Court. Terrible traffic chaos ensues.
We have stupid, moronic, clownish leaders that have been running this country from the time Forbes Burnham died in 1985 right up to 2019. They do not think. What is wrong with taking the ceremony of the official opening of the Demerara Assize of the Hugh Court to Eve Leary by the bandstand? Why do you have to hold it in the court yard when in doing so, you will create enormous traffic confusi
