Dear Editor,
It would seem as if the Lyrics of Lynn Anderson’s 1970 song, “Rose Garden” was scribed with the PNC Party in mind. Their thoughts, words, deeds and actions characterize the choreography of the delinquent track record of the PNC from birth to its current sad state of affairs. From an embryo fused with greed and jealousy, LFSB wanted all or nothing. Guyanese were warned to beware of Forbes who challenged Dr. Jagan for the leadership of the PPP. He failed miserably and then cunningly, crafted the PNC Party out of racial tendencies with a vision full of mischief in order to mold his own destiny by earmarking his personal ambition. Linden’s goal was to seek vengeance without mercy. It was not a People’s Party but a powerful party for his kind as adumbrated by current PNC advocates. No wonder there is a call for the GDF guns to turn in the right direction.
Indeed, the Party is well in order to confess that there gotta be a little rain sometime, the only main difference is that, it’s not sometime but incessantly all the time. Burnham gave the people porous buckets to catch the rain water as they stood drenched with the rain falling on their heads. He never provided any umbrella or rain coats. The people were left Naked with roof tops leaking. He wanted rice farmers to cut rice without availing grass cutters and cane cutters to cut and load the cane without cutlasses and punts. What did the fake English impersonator know about separating the sweet from the soil? Riding on his horse and smoking cigar, did that make him British or Cuban? Yet he wanted a National Party!
But for the PNC, when it rains, it continuously pores, resulting in severe floods and unsurmountable damages. Agriculture was never a pet subject for Burnham nor the PNC. He said to produce or perish. Well, the people perished because they could not produce chicken when there were no eggs. No wonder the Agriculture Bank went broke after so many Coops failed to perform because the funds were misused and those reaping the fruits never knew how to plant a tree! The Guyana National Coop Bank was a charade to parade and perfect the convenience of confidently shipping and shifting money under protective covers. Even cricket wasn’t safe as the ground became wet from leaky covers. Burnham magic only worked once.
As a result, there will only be a blooming rose garden for the selected few who are well pampered and taken good care of. Burnham made his cronies executives in all the agencies so that he can control the mass. His dangerous fangs spread as poisonous tentacles. He banned essential food items but craved for those very items. Conflict of interest wasn’t born as yet. How ironic that he should call for condensed milk as he withered away in twilight! But he ensured that garlic was bountiful around Christmas time. He succeeded in increasing the smuggling rate as, “smarter the government, wiser the population.”
The External Trade Bureau (ETB) was established to fill certain pockets and empty certain pockets, thereby, making some millionaires while minimizing some millionaires. His Knowledge Sharing Institute (KSI) was anything but knowledgeable. It helped to build long, laborious and lamentable food lines in a non-align country. Many suffered angrily and hungrily as they queued up waiting out of desperation. One person died at Guyana Stores while standing in a line. He became a laughing stock among his CARICOM peers, as, they tantalized him as being unable to feed his people while hosting CARIFESTA to show off. He was King on “No Man’s Land.”
The local man with foreign tastes mesmerized the crowd with his oration as he told the women not to take everything lying down. How could they stand up and fight when the Guyana National Service was meant to be the factory for the new nation’s product? Female job seekers had to yield when in the field At Sophia, a new chapter was written with party paramountcy. The court, parliament and all government agencies became the arms of the PNC with the General as the head. Now is we time, massa time done. Congress lost its nationality as the people ran for their lives overseas.
Anything he touched turned to dust. Midas and Satan cried bitter tears. From sugar to rice to bauxite, all suffered the same fate after nationalization. While sugar saved Guyana as the sugar workers broke their backs to subsidize the other non-performing industries, Burnham misused the sugar levy and failed to plough the revenue back into that industry for its sustenance. Guyana owes that much to bring back the sugar industry alive. Guyana is synonymous with sugar because its multi racial society metamorphosed from slaves and indentured laborers who were bundled and brought for the sole purpose of producing sugar. Burnham bought his way and befriended back stabbers as he endangered the PNC with borrowed time. Time up was called in 1992 by the US and Carter!
But, there was no sunshine for the mass and the grass was no longer green. The Guyana State Corporation (Guystac) was stacked with Burnham’s buddies who knew how to snatch and stash only. Guyanese were told to tighten their belts. With the minimum of wages and wage freeze, the people grew in Poverty. GAWU paid a heavy price to gain recognition and even the CCWU was taken to task as Gordon Todd was taken to sea to learn how to swim with the sharks.
Of course, they are full of sweet talk and when they don’t talk, beware, still water runs deep, so, Guyanese have to look before they leap. The PNC took a lot from Guyana and Guyanese and they lived the good life. They really did, at the expense of letting go of the mass. The small man grew smaller and the real man grew manly and womanly. Corruption pervaded from 1964 to 1992 and prevailed again from 2015 to 2020. To date, PNC supporters are still cringing over the PNC legacy and want to know why the PNC party failed to enrich all of them when they were in power. The PNC did not deliver the world on a silver platter to the nation nor to their members because, they don’t know that roses cannot grow on stalks of clover.
Isn’t it time the PNC beg pardon from Guyanese?
Yours respectfully,
Jai Lall.
