Biting the Hand that feed ya...

After a period of self-imposed isolation, the tragi-comedy that is Guyana burst into my consciousness with the Headlines of the the recently lauded (by a US University) Education Minister, standing in for the  Foreign Minister (the jobs are juggled between the favoured few who then whinge that they don't have people to do the 'wuk' and they have to wuk so hard!) and going to the US Ambassador's farewell do and dragging up the US sins of interfering with the country's affairs in the 50s to the present time of imposing their wishes on small States.  Not the most diplomatic thing to do, especially as the US had worked out ages ago that this particular Minister is amenable to being manipulated and recently awarded her an award for services to the Guyanese people which the thinking few think is ludicrous as back in the day when the supposed service occurred, nothing positive resulted - apart from bits of paper and outright support for people abusing those in her portfolio she was mandated to protect!   One assumes that she also got the Guyanese state to pay, no doubt, for her to have her two children in the US thence making them bone fide US citizens- hardly the most tactful thing to do then - buse down that country's representative - as this is your 'go-to' country?
I can't say I entirely disagree with her -- as the US is no shining example of democracy themselves but I wondered if the niggling sore-point was that the Guyana Government has to declare all the assets held by US citizens to the US government - yeah baby-- the US IRS is known to be particularly vigilant and immune (at our level!) to 'knowing someone' unlike their Guyanese counterparts.  Speaking as a small business owner - the situation in Guyana is such that the small pool gets a shake-down for increased revenues while the undocumented keep building higher and unfeasible buildings but 'are not on the books', this can only be a good thing.. right?
I had a good laugh that the Minister got slammed for crude behaviour but no-one thought to comment about the crowd at a 4th of July US Embassy celebration who would heckle her to the extent I was unable to hear the recording-- truly she represents what is now Guyana's society....but then SN published a picture of part of the crowd and there was the guy who had instigated disgruntled losers of an election to start fires on the main shopping street and storm the President's office--THAT's who gets invited to these things?? No wonder the goodly minister had a moan about them interfering in the country's affairs!  It's the equivalent of Putin donating money and supporting Farrakhan's unit ...mind you I agree with some of his rantings!.. maybe the white supremacists of the Kentucky hills perhaps?

The Changing face of Georgetown -- 2

For whatever reason --  monitoring more closely monies out of Guyana by people barely literate -- there has been a minor building boom in GT, oblivious to things such as fire regulations, drainage and other people's boundaries. Guyana seems to have caught up with 16th Century Europe where Balzac noted derisively in Cousin Bette, that the 'new' way to make money was to buy and divide property to rent out as units - both domestic and commercial. This seems the current vogue.. wonder where the proposed exploited are expected to get money to pay, from?
Clearly not only Guyanese, but two international hotels-- the Marriott and Ramada foresee a boom in visitors and are trying to bring hotels with International standards here once again. Again I ask, where would the average Joe get the wherewithal to pay?
Someone noted at all new buildings being proposed to be rented out be mandated to provide parking for at least 50 cars. This NIMBY attitude (Not In My Backyard) attitude has to stop somewhere. A local person has taken it upon himself to build a building for three apartments on the corner of a relatively upmarket area-- in addition to carrying out using the road for mixing and storing materials and obstructing traffic I note there is no parking!
It is extraordinary how myopic those with new money are!

How to see a Jaguar in the Wild...

... destroy its habitat.
keep seeing this BBC documentary on our education channel where the crew got very excited to capture a jaguar on one of their trip cameras.
My hunter guy was just telling me that he saw three jaguars, two margays and two ocelots on a recent trip down past the 'waist' of Guyana. I thought there was protected territory but apparently it has been 'sold' to the Chinese who are busy cutting down the trees-- yep the virgin rainforest soon will be no more-- my guy said that the diameter of one log was coming under 6 feet. Even allowing for exaggeration, the implication that we have no clue about what is going on past Linden is fairly worrying.  I guess there's not much publicity about it cos there are little or no Guyanese workers! You would think after all the environmental damage in China they would be at least a bit concerned about climate change?  But these International agreements are dependent on the locals to institute protection clauses? It was said that the huge tract of land given to the Barbadians is part of the Rupununi wetlands- for large-scale agriculture; and there are currently no laws governing what chemicals can be used - Rachel Carson must be turning in her grave--as apparently the people signing these agreements are totally unconcerned about the long-term effects on the environment.  Wonder how long it would take for people to realise another 'road' is being built in prime forest-- the Human Rights people managed to get a local mining concession halted in the deep south but the Chinese seem to be operating in broad daylight.
So the poor elusive jaguars are now very visible.

Court doesn't work...Police doesn't work ....2

So the man whose wife was giving him 'blow' with his good friend found out about it (eventually) and used his wife's cell phone to ensure the 'other man' was home. He drove there with the wife to confront the 'friend' and then shot him 16 times as the guy came to sit in the car-- the wife getting a bullet in her foot.
He then ran away to Surinam while his family found out whether 5 million could sort the problem out. He came back and was charged but after 5 months no witnesses could be found to testify and the case was dropped - yep it's THAT easy folks.

Meanwhile on the Corentyne Coast, the citizens are fearful of bands of aimless young men liming in the street harassing the poor souls who have no choice to work late-- like nurses on a late shift.
This frustrated letter-writer says it all:
 http://www.stabroeknews.com/2014/opinion/letters/03/23/purchased-system-justice/

RotiHut -- stay away from the Biriyani!

When they first opened, the biriyani rice was surprisingly good-- made with Basmati rice and interesting spices.  Now I must confess with the familiarization of the internet and good recipes online I am a fairly good cook and nothing annoys me more to pay good money for shit food-- because when eating it-- I think and KNOW to myself I could do better.

The common problem with 'sharp' Guyanese is they too 'smart' and start cutting corners and the next thing you know the cousin doesn't resemble the original at all. It has been several years since I tasted theirs, but yesterday apparently a dead man's body was found in Mandela Avenue around 5pm as apparently the traffic was backed onto the Cemetery Road. I decided to turn around and while passing decided to give it a try and introduce it to an out-of-town person: I always enjoy introducing something new to hear people's reactions.

Bad mistake, in the first place the "special" was not VAT inclusive -- as were all their prices-- really-- what a cheap marketing trick; you seriously expect people to go around calculating 16% in their heads?
I scrabbled around looking for change to make the limit as I am always short of cash-- (wiser heads suggested that I keep some emergency money to not annoy the choke-and-rob people but I tend to end up spending that too!). Luckily the a Yoga classmate lived nearby and topped me up- to pay for this foul tasting food--  now thinking about it-- would have been better that she wasn't to save me the dreadful experience:

The rice tasted as if it had been frozen and microwaved. The heat was there but the spices not and the chicken tasted like the left overs from the new fried chicken place they opened thrown in. I can't say enough bad things about it -- outrageous at nearly $2000 (U$10) for left-overs!
Guyana going to the dogs.

'Court doesn't work...police doesn't work'

... this from a Brazilian businessman who came, saw business opportunities and for all extents and purposes ..got robbed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKh2Y-ZDSZA

What is sad is that the Courts have been subverted to grant injunctions (for the want of a better word) against itself -- supporting the Businessman on one hand ...then acting against their own orders on the other.  The Police Headquarters not investigating their own branches and the dogs turning against their owners and biting the hand/s that fed them!

So.. far from following the glorious path of capitalism according to Thomas Friedmann in 'The Lexus and Olive Tree': private sector the engine of economic growth.. removing restrictions on foreign investments... increasing exports... opening industries to direct foreign ownership and investment...  it appeared to take a unique Guyanese turn-- whereby the caretaker who was promoted to 'frontman' ( how the heck a Sri Lankan turn up here?) got 'smart' and conned the Brazilians out of their money and used it to finance his own business, stealing their equipment-- no doubt in collusion with the original businessman who owned and leased his land doing nothing with it. 

Clearly the Law and legal system need 'fixing' before this country can progress but there was an interesting letter in yesterday's paper which pointed out:
'the ideal state is a democracy which serves the interests of the citizens in accordance with fair laws, applicable to all citizens, designed to maintain order, peace and liberty. On the other hand a narco-state is a territory taken over by drug interests where government institutions are controlled by drug money and law enforcement agencies serve the interests of narco-traffickers and the corrupted elite.'
Maybe the latter part is applicable: some government institutions serve the interests of the corrupted elite.'?

Morality and the minister(s)

The apparently spineless Finance Minister found himself in the papers recently as he hit a car into a trench without due care and attention as he was supposed to stop. Perhaps if he hadn't been driving an oversized vehicle unsuited to Guyana's roads there might have been less damages, but there it goes. Like Ted Kennedy-- he removed himself from the scene of the accident without seeing that the other people involved got out of the trench- in this case a taxi with a passenger, and sending a minion to deal with his mess.

This raises several questions in my mind-- I remember reading that the goodly minister had completed a Pandit's training course -- so he should have been aware that the ethical thing to do would be to assist people to whom he had caused harm. ( A Pandit means/implies a learned person able to read and understand the Vedas-- the sacred Hindu texts-- implying some sort of moral leader)  In fact, to back-pedal a bit  he ought not to be even drinking alcohol, much less be driving recklessly, supposedly under the influence ( no breathalyser or blood tests were carried out so there is no evidence!)-- AND according to Kaieteur News-- especially after he had 'jammed' another person's car under similar circumstances only a month previously!
Then as now, a minion had been dispatched to cut a deal, keep it out of public knowledge and quietly drop the matter after ignoring the person's pleas.  Looking very hard for mitigating factors I could only come up with -- it was a Public Holiday so his driver was not working and he was generously driving himself to do the rest of us a favour of not paying another minion 'time and a half', thus having the Country's interest at heart.
(Likewise one could suppose the questionable position of having his wife in the Auditor-General's office to oversee his department's spending of the Public's funds - he could, purely from an altruistic view make sure she had her facts right-- like the Minister of Culture-- a trained Public Health specialist having his wife be in a position of controlling the then cash-cow funds for HIV prevention. I am not saying these are not intelligent women who could not of otherwise have gained these positions on their own steam because let's face it-- Guyana's Parliament has a higher than required number of women parliamentarians on all sides but our peculiar system means they toe the Party line-- and why spoil a good thing of all the perks?  Maybe that's one of the functions of a good Guyanese wife-- clean ya husband dirty laundry?)
I think the Crime Chief indicated that traditionally Ministers are treated differently from ordinary citizens with respect to failing to report the accident within 24hrs or rendering assistance to those injured at the scene of an accident  -- whether this was another genius move from the President who wrote the 1980 constitution giving himself unlimited powers or harkens further back to to Colonial times - it is the same thing -- blatant abuse of Power.
Ironically-- this Minister of Finance's name has been touted as a possible presidential candidate following the stellar performance of the last one.