Face to face with evil in Berbice Saturday evening

Last Saturday afternoon, I went to Skeldon, Berbice, with some members of the Alliance for Change to see the AFC rally. When we pulled in at Republic Square (they told me that was the name of the site), the lawyer Charrandas Persaud, was in the speaker’s chair
Then former Director of the UG campus of Berbice, Professor Daisal Samad took the microphone. After him, I gave a short presentation. I retired to a large empty bench in the middle of a large piece of parapet by myself to listen to the next speaker, Nigel Hughes. Suddenly an aging gentleman, with a gait that was unsteady due to age, came up to me.
He told his story. GPL cut off the electricity of a number of residents in Skeldon and neigbouring villages and GPL allegedly did a heartless thing to one of his friends. He wanted me to listen and write about his friend’s plight. He got up to look for his friend among the crowds. As he moved away from me, I watched his unstable gait and I made a wish for myself. Don’t let the world catch me in a deprived state at that age that I won’t have electricity in my home.
His friend was of similar age. He asked that his name be published; Tulsiedas Kistin. His problem was that GPL came, looked at the meter, accused him of tampering, cut him off and is demanding $140, 000 as back payment for two years. He said he paid, $2, 300 monthly before he was disconnected. GPL informed him that he should have been paying $10, 000. He has two tubes, a fridge and a television in his home. But that wasn’t his only problem.
He was arrested for electricity theft and taken to the police station and placed on $10, 000 station bail. The next day he was charged and appeared at a New Amsterdam court. He went back later to collect his bail money. The station told him he has to go to Georgetown to collect it. I left the rally and took him to the station to ascertain the validity of his claim.
The station’s policy is that after two weeks, bail money goes to Georgetown after being booked at New Amsterdam station. The policy of the station is not to have money stored there. This is obviously a pathetic situation. If people put bail money at a station in Skeldon, why do they have to travel to Georgetown to reclaim it? What reason does the police force have for not having money at the Skeldon Station? After all, they have guns at the station which are more dangerous than storing money.
After the rally, we attended a wake at Number Two Village next to Cotton Tree. I met two sad women there. Nanda Chan lost her father, Angad Chan, years ago at an accident at Cotton Tree at 6.AM. The driver was a policeman taking one of the most important officers in the Guyana Police Force to work. Nanda Chan said that was the end of the matter. She, her mother and siblings never heard anything after. Her father became a stray dog in the eyes of the police and died like a stray dog.
Two years after, Angad Chan’s brother, Janeed Chan lost his life in similar circumstances not far from where his brother was killed. This time it wasn’t a speeding police car with a big police officer inside, but a truck transporting goods that killed Janeed Chan.
Janeed Khan’s wife, Bishamdai, told me at that wake, the police took a statement from her and she never heard back from them. The truck driver resumed his daily routine. Janeed Chan, like his brother, died like a stray dog in Berbice because their country treated them like stray dogs.
I asked Nanda Chan and Bhishamdai Chan if, when these injustices were meted out to them, they went to seek the intervention of the political administrators of Berbice. They told me yes and said there was never a follow-up. They were brushed aside. I asked Tulsiedas Kistin if he sought the assistance of the political officials in Skeldon.
He promptly replied no and indicated that Attorney Charrandas Persaud is helping.
In the case of Bhishamdai Chan, her husband was a worker for forty five years at Blairmont estate yet she said she didn’t get a cent in death benefits because the estate couldn’t find his contributions
I left Berbice in complete sadness Saturday night. Not only at what I had just seen but the thought that the PPP will be asking these people for a sixth victory in the coming months.