Dear Editor,
The newspapers on Thursday all reported on the opening of the new bottling plant at DDL. This expansion seems to be a Guyana success story that all Guyanese should be proud about, according to the speakers at the plant opening.
Capitalism is like that. Regardless of whether the bottles are going to be full of water or rum, the statements about competitiveness, market access for products, innovation, financing, etc etc did not really say much about the products.
But rum is not a product like any other. Rum has taken its toll on Guyanese lives and lives abroad.
The EU Ambassador spoke to ‘lovers of rum’. The Ambassador must know of the havoc wreaked in Guyana by lovers of rum, some not far from the new DDL bottling plant.
Two million euros of EU money would go a long way towards supporting the NGOs and Government agencies who have to struggle with the problems caused by alcohol consumption in Guyana. The EU countries themselves are battling with some of those problems (http://ec.europa.eu/health-eu/my_lifestyle/alcohol/index_en.htm).
A community activist in Sophia has been trying to get some of those posters from the campaign to stop underage drinking and was told that the campaign has finished. I wonder if the EU would help those community people to easily access funds to print some more of the posters to put up on the legal and illegal rum shops in Guyana which vend the produce of the new efficient bottling plant.
The report in the Chronicle talks about ‘increased local demand’. That is frightening, that there is going to be increased consumption when the Minister of Health has already expressed concerns about the levels of alcohol consumption in Guyana.
Another headline in Stabroek News “‘Alcohol in me head had me real bad’ tells the other side of the grim story of the successes of the alcohol industry. There are other stories in the newspapers and not in the newspapers.
Kaieteur News reports that President Jagdeo asked for a large photograph of a rum bottle to be removed from the podium. There are no explanations given. I would like to fantasize that soon after coming from Divali celebrations where he spoke out against alcohol abuse, he might have recognised the dilemma of promoting a product which has damaged the lives of many of his constituents and that this was the only statement he could make about alcohol consumption.
He might have had in his head the concerns of the Minister of Health, the Minister of Human Services, the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport and even recently the Minister of Agriculture who at the Guysuco Awards ceremony in Blairmont talked about the problems of alcohol consumption in the sugar industry.
This Guyanese is not proud of the DDL technological innovation. DDL would do better for their shareholders, Guyana and the world if they could use that money and apply those successful business principles which were lauded to diversify from a product which has destroyed so many lives. The alcohol industry in Guyana operates in a bubble that other people are responsible for the controls on alcohol, and that they have to do what they have to do in the interest of maximizing profits. We know that our humanity cannot be sustained if some of us profit while others suffer.
Yours faithfully,
Vidyaratha Kissoon
Seriously, Vidyaratha, while I too would counsel individual restraint in the consumption of any product, and certainly alcohol, we must recognise the success of DDL in making an internationally acclaimed product.
Personally, I doubt that DDL’s Eldorado 21-year-old ever harmed anyone.
Like so many other things, rum will be imported or the bottles will be if DDL does not manufacture it. Our citizens must be educated drinkers don’t blame DDL and the gov’t. Take a look at what drugs is doing to our people these days. More laws and education to control this devilish substance.
I have known Vidyaratha Kissoon for a long time and know him to be an agitator for Gay rights.
The impassioned activists’ has always argued that government should have less legislative role when it comes to Gay rights but ironically he now promotes more government interference when it comes to alcohol control.
You can’t have your cake and eat it, Mr. Kissoon.
“Awake you drunkards and weep” says the Bible!!
Alcohol business is very good and lucrative, leave my rum alone Mr. Kissoon.
Focus pun jagdoe and the dictatorship abuses Leave private enterprise alone.
Alcohol is the way of Guyana. The youth are spending all their hard earned money on it. I am in Guyana every mouth and to see how Money is spent of alcohol gets me sick. I know in the developed nations its spent more, but when your making next to nothing, saving should be priority. Not spending it on alcohol. It should be taxed higher
This is a very powerful letter. In so many words it asks the question: “is a society or it business leaders willing to trade acceptable human morals in the pursuit of profits?”
That question right there is at the heart of capitalism and the criticism that the systems gets. Most people don’t know where the dividing lines between morals and profits are. The wall street bankers were accused of crossing the line and received flack for it.
I am thinking that it is ok to pursue profit but be responsible for your actions. If you screw up you pay for the cleanup. In DDL’s case,I’ll say let them sell all the rum they want but at the same time make it so that they are held responsible for the damage their branded alcohol brings upon a family or society in general. Laws (and of course a good judiciary system) should be enacted such that the aggrieved can go after the corporation, lawyers working pro-bono. Maybe after the first major lawsuit they will get their act together.
Again,very good letter.
“In DDL’s case,I’ll say let them sell all the rum they want but at the same time make it so that they are held responsible for the damage their branded alcohol brings upon a family or society in general.”
Man has “freewill” and cherishes freedom of choice. Governments can’t have it both ways. Accrue revenue through taxing the product and then claim drinking too much creates a burden for society. The same goes for tobacco. The taxes D.D.L. pays alleviates and waves all their responsibilities. It’s a legal product and warning labels are sufficient. We don’t need a “nanny state.”
I think its a very good letter too, Vidya is a decent and socially conscious person who cares about people, but I agree with heavily taxing alcohol instead of banning its production.
Borapork,you have offered a very smart comment here.But I don’t think paying taxes alone should free a corporation from its responsibilities.Your response,though, represents a thinking man’s perspective and should be strongly considered by anyone(me included) who cares deeply about this and similar subjects. You have indeed added another important dimension to my thinking.Thanks.
As a side note,within the last month I asked an engineer who works for a defense contractor how does he feel going to work everyday making equipment that are designed to kill (sometimes innocence included aka collateral damage)and cause destruction.Before that,I knew somebody who worked for Phillip Morris and our idle conversation went down a similar road as well,even though less direct.Remarkably, these people see themselves as no different to a cancer researcher going to work every morning.Their conscience are clear and truly believe they are making a positive contribution to mankind.I am getting closer to understanding it,just be patient with me.
Dear Abby,
Sometimes when I’m feeling stressed out I buy some liquid therapy, Vodka, and I forget about all my worries.
Other times people would insult me and I don’t have the stamina to insult them back but as soon as I drink some liquid courage, mo vodka, I surely showed them.
But now this guy has written some nasty things in your newspaper about the things that keep my life going. If wasn’t for DDL, the only opposition left was suicide.
Love always,
Guyanesestarfish
p.s I does use me vasco wine for mek me cake and barbque too.
Ruin Unto Man (RUM) has been part of the local culture that has taken its toll on human lives and destruction of moral values. Youths and prominent administrators of the govt. are serious practitioners of rum consumption.many evils are associated with alcohol consumption, you know them, no need to state them. The greatest culture is agriculture and Guyana is still at loggerheads with this culture.Feeding the world is a real dilema now and sustainable development is the key to the dwindling food supply.Guyana is blessed with vast expanses of land and its tillage can bring real wealth. Several years ago whilst in the company of Lord Avesbury and Lord Chitnis in the Mahaicony area., Lord Avesbury commented on the land resources and its potential to supply the Caribbean with all their foods. Several years ago I got requests for fruits and vegetables(hot peppers) from a very prominent UK buyer. The buyer wanted all the fruits and hot peppers that was and can be available. Of course, nothing happened . Trinidad and Jamaica exports hot peppers worth hundreds of millions of USdollars yearly. Guyana prefers to talk about agriculture. I have not heard about the Mushroom farming that was big news yesteryear.Guyana is so close to Europe, yet Europeans have partners in Africa and Asia to supply their fruits demand. Guyana prefers panhandling, looking for gold , a luck and chance scenario. Gold above ground is a last resort. I have a close friend from here in the USA who will be going to Guyana to invest in lands for soybeans, a crop he knows well. He is interested in going into this in a big scale. I hope he gets the reception he expects.
I agree with Flatty comments. We don’t have any drug/cocaine manufacturing plants in Guyana, but yet you see so much ‘junkies’ on our streets.
How you know dat we don have any drug/concin manufacturing plan in GT T-Boy ?.
Do better? How about if it throw away all the alcohol.
3 something for a grenade and a duck curry for a towel, don’t talk about kazack, that stuff is a health hazard and high wine and banko, lethal. Its in the blood though, just spread the message to drink responsibly.