Berbicians: Mad, racist or just plain naÏve?

If any group of humans operates outside the realm of imagination, it is the PPP leadership. The things these people have done since they lost the government in May this year is beyond both belief and imagination. I sat for four years in the Council of the University of Guyana where the PPP had seven Council Members who were in the leadership of active PPP district groups and of that seven, four were PPP Parliamentarians. Today the sourpuss cry from the entire PPP leadership including dirty-minded politicians who wielded power for twenty three years over a hapless and helpless nation is being transported to Berbice in special caravans of proselytization. That cry is that the APNU-AFCF Government is putting its own people in state jobs. What was horrible about these twenty-three years of morbid governance was when one of the PPP’s most disgraceful bad eggs reached the zenith of his moral turpitude he was posted as an Ambassador to one of the most important economies in the world. Last week the masturbatory caravans touched down in Region Six and erected pulpits for dangerous sermons of race-baiting.

Are Berbicians congenital fools, inherent racists or plain naÏve people who will never see beyond what is in front of the nose? Where are the Jagdeo accomplishments in Berbice for the twenty years he was President and the three years thereafter that he controlled the presidency of  Donald Ramotar? Berbice is the suicide capital of the entire living world in the 21st century. This sociological nightmare was born under the PPP Government. Black Bush Polder is a cemetery for dozens of young people who eventually take their own lives. For the twenty-three years, the PPP ran things in Black Bush Polder where electricity in that area in Berbice is scarcer that elephants.

Where are the passport offices in Berbice?  Berbice can only renew their drivers’ license in Georgetown. There are two recurring complaints I get whenever I am engaged in open political activism in Berbice – Guysuco has not properly documented NIS remittances over the long years and police escapades are unbearable. These complaints have become perennial. As recent as last month I was at a special meeting of the Chamber of Commerce in Region Five. The confabulation was held literally yards away from the Fort Wellington Police Station. After describing for me police behaviour at the same station, some of the Chamber members said, “Freddie, go over and see what they will tell you.” I went. The ranks said they cannot speak and I must contact their boss, Superintendent Nurse. He wasn’t there of course (see my September 5, 2025 column, “Berbice is watching the APNU-AFC regime with hawkish eyes.&rdquo.

People in Skeldon told me that bail money at Skeldon Police Station after two weeks has to be uplifted in Georgetown. Guess why? As a matter of security, the police do not keep money at the station. Berbice is certainly a nihilistic hell hole. If the police are afraid of having money at their station in the heart of Skeldon then why should anyone store money in their house?

These weird, heart-breaking stories make up life in Berbice where Clement Rohee was one of the speakers on the proselyzation platform. What can Rohee tell Berbicians? He was the Home Affairs Minister who ruled over the police force and openly only gave them orders as he did with the Linden uprising in July 2012. But he didn’t order security and protection for Berbicians.

In speaking to Berbicians last week, Jagdeo told them the PPP is shaping itself to win back power if elections are called in the next two years should the PPP win the election petition, or in 2020 when the next national poll is due. It is natural for party leaders to tell its supporters any kind of subtle or overt propagandistic nonsense but surely not leaders from a party that has been in power for twenty three years. And to make it so unpalatable, these leaders are condemning a new government that is literally four months old. It calls into question the nature of the mind, soul and heart of a part of this country’s population called Berbicians. My guess is that the leaders in the APNU-AFC coalition may feel it is too early to counter the deceptions and lies of the masturbatory caravans of the PPP that just left Berbice.

They may feel it is much too early to waste money and manpower on such useless adventures. But local government elections are four months away. How Berbicians vote will tell us if they are really made of human stuff.

I hope they are.