ksazma posted:

Given that Guyana is on the verge of becoming blindingly rich as a result of its potential oil reserves, how likely are you to re-migrate to Guyana and why?

NEVER!!!

Will not go back. I have lived almost 40 years in Canada combined with the fact that I have never went back since I left. I do not see myself able to live in Guyana. I do not think I can handle the humidity now in the country.

Also the riches of the country in no way will change the attitude of the Gov't and their followers. I do not have the patience to wait on all that red tape when I know quite well that there are ways to get things done faster.

Guyanese have a lazy attitude when they are dealing with the public. Once they know they have the public at their mercy they take their own sweet time to get  things done.

One day of that type of situation and I will be in jail for taking matters into my own hands.

The political situation and the police are another issue. I will not even go into that. 

Excellent observations Amral.

I agree with Amral.

I will never return to Guyana even if they double or triple their oil reserves. Guyana didn't appeal to me back in the 70s and the 80s before I left and now being removed from it for more than three decades, I wouldn't have the patience to deal with the nonsense that pass there for normalcy.

But anyone who wishes to go fight for their share can do so at their own peril.

Look at Libya, Iraq, Trinidad, Venezuela and now Guyana, Uncle Sam scent sprayed all over in these countries.

ksazma posted:

I will never return to Guyana even if they double or triple their oil reserves. Guyana didn't appeal to me back in the 70s and the 80s before I left and now being removed from it for more than three decades, I wouldn't have the patience to deal with the nonsense that pass there for normalcy.

But anyone who wishes to go fight for their share can do so at their own peril.

When I visited Guyana, I was ready to return home after a week. It will be 49 years next month for me in Minnesota. Not sure I can live in Guyana for an extended period. I have seen it all in Guyana with some negative experiences.

I have left Guyana over 40 years, most of the family are abroad. Other than stock investments I own no Real Estate in Guyana but I would like to take my two Kids for a visit to show them my roots.  We take a few vacations a year to different places one includes Cuba but never had the urge to holiday in Guyana, to me it's combat zone.

It is clear that politics in Guyana has gone into the gutter, All asses and Jackasses wants to be leader while the poor working class will remain poor and the top one percent will live like kings. 

 When you are in Government ,you are obligated to deliver to the people and to fulfill the promises made when campaigning, so I choose to dissect and criticize the Government be it PPP or PNC, be it RED or GREEN/YELLOW. Today it bothers me to see Cathy Hughes and the Minister of housing are profiting from the system and the President/ Prime Minister don't care.

With the flow of OIL money in the near future, corruption will be more blatant . I am in favor of Dr Clive Thomas idea to share the money to all Guyanese in Guyana be it a monthly benefit. in addition the government to provide free health care,  University education for all. 

 The people that sacrificed and toiled the life in Guyana deserve the good life. One day I hope to make an unannounced short visit to Guyana.

Many Guyanese are by nature soup drinkers and the minute oil starts to flow they will be there on those American Airlines and JetbBlue flights. The country will be so transformed none of you will recognize it.  My family never sold our land.  It’s All there.  We have transport for three of the properties that dates back to the year 1900.  

kp posted:

..... but I would like to take my two Kids for a visit to show them my roots. 

 

Don't risk their lives or yours.

Bibi Haniffa posted:

Many Guyanese are by nature soup drinkers and the minute oil starts to flow they will be there on those American Airlines and JetbBlue flights. The country will be so transformed none of you will recognize it.  My family never sold our land.  It’s All there.  We have transport for three of the properties that dates back to the year 1900.  

Guyana soup too bitter for me. 

ksazma posted:

kp posted:

..... but I would like to take my two Kids for a visit to show them my roots. 

 

Don't risk their lives or yours.

Your life is not at risk if you don’t venture into danger zones.  I won’t expect you to be wandering around Tiger Bay at midnight.  My dad is in his 80s and he is going in a few days to pay his property taxes and take care ah his business.  I have been a few times and had some of the best times of my life. I love going to the neighborhood market and buy fruits, eat fresh fish curry, drink fresh cut water coconut, and sit in the hammock and watch the world go by.  Taxis are a dime dozen, you can pay a driver to take you from point A to point B and they wait for you patiently.

Bibi Haniffa posted:

ksazma posted:

kp posted:

..... but I would like to take my two Kids for a visit to show them my roots. 

 

Don't risk their lives or yours.

Your life is not at risk if you don’t venture into danger zones.  I won’t expect you to be wandering around Tiger Bay at midnight.  My dad is in his 80s and he is going in a few days to pay his property taxes and take care ah his business.  I have been a few times and had some of the best times of my life. I love going to the neighborhood market and buy fruits, eat fresh fish curry, drink fresh cut water coconut, and sit in the hammock and watch the world go by.  Taxis are a dime dozen, you can pay a driver to take you from point A to point B and they wait for you patiently.

I pray that your dad gets there safely, conducts his business successfully and return home safely. There is no compelling reason for me to take any chances. I also feel that one doesn’t have to necessarily go looking for trouble in Guyana, it seems to know how to find you.

During my month in Harlem I could not even handle my trips to Richmond Hill and the smell of rotten garbage there. I had to run back to Harlem. So I figured maybe Guyana is not the place for me unless we get an independent Sovereign country for our people then I shall return.

My explanation of diaspora Guyanese who return

When I was courting my wife in 1978, we met for lunch often at one of the leading restaurants. One of the co-owners of that place who left in the late eighties is visiting. Over lunch, he said that he noticed a trend in my commentaries – I have something against the Guyanese in the diaspora who come back to work.
Before I could offer my simple explanation, he stated that these people have skills that the locals do not have. My immediate reaction was the acknowledgement of that fact but there were hundreds of “buts” after I said that one of which was “but they return and want to have the best.”
I told the once famous restaurateur that I have nothing against Guyanese returning to help us here; assistance the country needs. But they want top class jobs that should go to locals and which they have no right to possess and which I will campaign against with my academic and journalistic pen.
It would shock Guyanese to know that two diaspora economists who didn’t even visit us for one day during the 2015 election campaign requested the leadership of the Alliance For Change to consider them for Governor of the Bank of Guyana and CEO of GuySuCo, respectively.
The then leader of the AFC, Khemraj Ramjattan, can testify to this because both requests were made to him. One of these two gentlemen turned up at a birthday party of insurance magnate, Bish Panday, where Ramjattan was present to discuss the GuySuCo offer. Ramjattan was livid and asked how he got permission to enter the party.
These diaspora people left moons ago and after their working lives are over and arthritis, failing eyesight, failing health and failing happiness in the metropolitan cities overcame them, they come to Guyana and cream off the best jobs. This son of Guyana says this is unacceptable. This son of Guyana who stayed in his country with his wife and raised a family in his own country says this should not happen.
I make no apologies for this stance. I will not flinch one second from this position. If you gave your youth, skills and soul to another country for over thirty years and you want to come back and participate in nation-building in Guyana this, please do, and we are glad to have you. But don’t come back in your mid-sixties and want to be the head of this and the head of that.
We have people here who are qualified and who stayed and lived with a falling down and failing GPL, Georgetown Hospital, University of Guyana, GWI and countless other state sector places. Guyana should recognize their sacrifice.

I can rattle off my head people who got Commonwealth and Guyana Government doctoral scholarships in the late seventies and eighties and violated the terms of agreement to come back and serve. They never did. They live outside. Some are very big names and you would be shocked to know who they are.
When they reach sixty-five, we may see them back in Guyana, heading this and that state institution.
I have never backed down from speaking my mind. I say unapologetically that Dr. Mark Kirton should have been invited to take up the Vice Chancellor’s chair at UG. Kirton stayed and worked at UG for thirty years and his qualifications are good as other academics in the diaspora.
I told AFC parliamentarian, Michael Carrington that I could not support Dr. Vincent Adams for the post of Department of Energy. I do not support his headship of the EPA. Is there someone in Guyana in environmental sciences who is eligible?
Those who live in the US would know that the Americans a few years back changed the format for green card holders. They now have to spend a longer time in the US. It is simple reasoning – you have American residency then spend time in the country that gave you such status. I recall the heart specialist, Dr. Mahendra Carpen, who returned to Guyana four years ago having an exchange two weeks ago with a Guyanese who lives abroad and criticizes Carpen.
Carpen in his reply quite rightly stated that he lives and works in Guyana. Carpen’s whose wife is a Jamaican doctor, also lives and works in Guyana. She practises at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
I went to UG in the mid seventies with people who have long left Guyana. I was surprised to know that Dr. Hector Butts had returned after 2015 when he turned up at my gate. They are so many others like him. I wish them well but I embrace emotionally those who stayed.

Source:

Will semi retire there when I turn 55. Going back this year to renovate our home in Berbice. 

 I predict some resentment from Guyanese living there towards those who return to retire but we are still Guyanese. 

I will stay clear of Guyanese politics when I go there and mind my own business. 

Prashad posted:

I figured maybe Guyana is not the place for me unless we get an independent Sovereign country for our people then I shall return.

How do you expect to get it? It will not fall in your lap like a star apple. You have to fight for it. Not in GNI cyberspace but on actual territory. Or else yuh go hold landh.

Gilbakka posted:

Prashad posted:

I figured maybe Guyana is not the place for me unless we get an independent Sovereign country for our people then I shall return.

How do you expect to get it? It will not fall in your lap like a star apple. You have to fight for it. Not in GNI cyberspace but on actual territory. Or else yuh go hold landh.

If the man cannot succeed then the man will have to succballs.

ksazma posted:

Bibi Haniffa posted:

ksazma posted:

kp posted:

..... but I would like to take my two Kids for a visit to show them my roots. 

 

Don't risk their lives or yours.

Your life is not at risk if you don’t venture into danger zones.  I won’t expect you to be wandering around Tiger Bay at midnight.  My dad is in his 80s and he is going in a few days to pay his property taxes and take care ah his business.  I have been a few times and had some of the best times of my life. I love going to the neighborhood market and buy fruits, eat fresh fish curry, drink fresh cut water coconut, and sit in the hammock and watch the world go by.  Taxis are a dime dozen, you can pay a driver to take you from point A to point B and they wait for you patiently.

I pray that your dad gets there safely, conducts his business successfully and return home safely. There is no compelling reason for me to take any chances. I also feel that one doesn’t have to necessarily go looking for trouble in Guyana, it seems to know how to find you.

My father is a frequent traveler to Guyana.  He hangs out in the rum shops at night and eats in all the new restaurants he can find. He is fearless.  Never had an incident.