OP-ED | ‘Suarez brothers Circus faces stiff competition’

INITIALLY, when they arrived, the Saurez Brothers Circus had announced that they will be in Guyana for a “long period”.

On September 28th last, The Guyana Times reported thusly: “The Suarez Brothers Circus…. was in Guyana 13 years ago for a short time. This time, they (sic) are here for a longer period…”

Via public notices, the Suarez Circus has now announced that it is back to a “short season” and “only in Georgetown”. The competition from across the way on upper Church Street with its weekly press conference ‘performances’ seems to be too stiff for Saurez Brothers. They are packing up and shipping out early. And so he was at it again yesterday, frothing at the mouth with his trademark vitriol and his infamous invectives, for part of his performance, while cornered and afraid for another part. His supporters must have been wincing as noted journalist, Gordon Moseley, interrogated him on his feeble, convoluted defence of the obscene Berbice Bridge contract (which was conceived and signed during his presidency).

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo became incensed and irritated at Moseley’s insistence that he provides credible answers which he was incapable of doing and became evasive and insulting. It was the kind of performance we have become accustomed to from this ill-tempered, vindictive former President who once instituted a ban against the very Moseley from the Office of the President.

In a sad attempt to evade Moseley, Jagdeo went into an elongated spiel, repeating what he deemed successes of his presidency. He mentioned a number of projects.
Let us examine some: The Leonora Athletic Stadium. The location of this facility was purely political and had nothing to do with the development of athletics in Guyana. Leonora has no history or legacy of athletics. The stadium should have been located in either Linden or Georgetown where the majority of Guyana’s athletics emerge from. They would have been able to use the facility on a daily basis to train and prepare for domestic and international competition. In addition the facility was poorly designed and the construction was shoddy with the walls cracking and buckling. The seats in this “stadium” are cheap wooden benches which resemble crude road corner liming spots. It is a disgrace for anyone to boast that this is a shining achievement.

The Guyana National Stadium: Another horribly designed project which is so badly designed that tarpaulins have to be used to prevent the seats in the esteemed Presidential Box from getting wet when it rains. Several areas have also been cracking and certain parts of the stands and surrounding areas flood. The dressing rooms for the teams are so small that some players have had to sit in the washroom. These are irrefutable, if not well known, facts.

The Skeldon Sugar Factory remains a glorious white elephant– a colossal waste of money and a multi-billion dollar burden on taxpayers. We now know of the vulgar and oppressive contract which preceded the building of the Berbice Bridge. The location of the bridge too was done to spite the people of New Amsterdam (where the stelling is located) because they are deemed to be supportive of the Coalition.

The Arthur Chung Conference Centre had to be closed for almost a year, as it required BILLION DOLLAR repairs recently as the building was sinking. The CARICOM Headquarters is so inadequate that CARICOM has to rent an annex across the road to accommodate its staff. There are reports too that the ceiling is abnormally low, resulting in complaints by staff and feelings of claustrophobia.

What Mr. Jagdeo did not speak on was under his presidency Guyana was reduced to a pariah, narco-state in which drug lords openly boasted about providing security and funding public servants salaries. Drug lords were untouchable dons who murdered, slaughtered and did as they pleased without fear of the law or leadership. Sanity and law and orderliness have been restored to Guyana under the Coalition Government. So lawless was Guyana that the United States authorities revoked the visas of high ranking government officials and the then Police Commissioner.

Guyana’s economy, under Jagdeo, was nothing but a house of cards, which, once the drug money was removed, collapsed. For all his boasting of being an economist of note, [all] Jagdeo could do to have a semblance of a properly functioning economy was to rely on drugs and the underground economy. This exposed how inept he is as a macro-economist and as a leader. This retiree who longs to return to government, lacks the temperament to be a credible and successful national leader. He proved this during his disastrous 12-year presidency and now that he has evicted Clement Rohee as his party’s General Secretary and entrenched himself as he seeks to cling on to power at all costs, he continues to prove same. And all [the] while he further harms the economy from taking off as he offers competition for outfits such as Saurez Circus as they seek to provide some clean family entertainment for the people of Guyana. Everything that attempts to put a smile on the faces of Guyanese, Jagdeo jumps in and challenges and destroys. Destruction is his legacy.