One year since elections and the Rohee impasse

This week on What the People Say we spoke to residents and vendors at the Meadow Bank wharf about the government’s first year after last year’s elections and the impasse with Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee. Here are their responses:

Photos and interviews
by Shabna Ullah

Anim Ado, public servant: `I think there should be more co-operation in parliament, you know, more bipartisanship and I think if that happens, this country would be more on the course of progress. That is all I think; once that is solved it would move ahead. It is only one year but I think the government is trying. But as I have said, the government and the opposition need to collaborate more in the interest of the citizens.’

Michelle Booker, housewife: `I think that with the minority being in parliament they should have worked together for the betterment of the people. There should be co-operation with the government and the opposition. To my mind there is this tug-of-war, where probably the government is trying to show that they are in total control. With regards to the government, they should do more for the public servants. At the moment the public servants are eagerly awaiting whatever little sum should be given to them. But up to now that government has not said anything, they need to do better.’

Rickford Bourne, electrician: ‘To me the government has not done anything and the year was not good at all. Money is not turning over at all and it is the people at the bottom who are feeling it terribly. At least I was expecting a smooth flow because this year almost finished and up to now public servants cannot get anything. I feel all the parties lack co-operation and they are only stagnating things in this country. I do not really follow up what is going on with Rohee.’

Jasmattie Sudeen, fish vendor: ‘The people in parliament need to stop the fighting and work together for the betterment of all Guyanese. I don’t think it was a good year at all. To me business got worse after this new president went into office because money is not circulating. The one-way road they made here is causing us to lose sales. Mostly women come in here to shop on weekends and they are finding it hard to walk that far distance with their heavy load. Some of them would also get rob when they walk in here. Any ordinary person could have caught a vehicle and come and buy their fish.’

Dr. Haydock Wilson, medical practitioner: ‘I feel that the government is trying but I am disappointed in a way.
I was hoping that the two sides can come together and make decisions that are good for the country to move forward. Everybody see things from their point of view and wants things their way but sometimes it is your way, my way and the correct way. But we have to make decisions relevant to the country so the country can move forward. In the case of Rohee, I think that in the normal world, the minister in a situation like that should do the decent thing and step down. I would like to see Guyana function like that in the normal world. In other countries where you have issues the subject minister usually steps down. The other thing is the laws do not seem to apply to everybody.
For instance, two persons may do the same thing wrong but the penalty for one may be harsher.’

Christopher Ram, fisherman: ‘As a fisherman, I am concerned that the government is not doing anything about piracy. They are only talking. They giving lip service and they put nothing into action. This is what thousands of people making a living from. They took loan from the bank, their boat is getting hijacked but nothing is being done, nothing. All you hear is the minister saying blah, blah, blah we gonna do this, we gonna do that. They should put things in place. Robberies are taking place at this wharf. We make representation to them but we still cannot get a police outpost here. The government is doing a lot with regard to the economy but there is still a lot more that needs to be done. Take the old age pension, for instance. The opposition had to fight them to increase it to $10,000.  There is not enough co-operation in the parliament but I think the government can do better. They are wasting the people’s money.’

Mohan Singh, fish vendor: ‘First of all I don’t think that fishermen count in this country because for the year I didn’t see any minister or so come to the Meadow Bank wharf to look after it. This place needs a toilet and there is no proper place to drain the water when it rains and the place gets messy. The wharf broke down the other day and private people had to take their money and build the wharf. Plus, there is no type of security although there are a lot of money transactions.
Almost every day somebody getting rob. We go out to the sluice at Abary but there is no light there and the dam break away and water running over the dam. I think it is a whole bit of confusion in parliament and they are not doing anything. I think Rohee should stay; everybody got the right to speak.’

Roopnarine, saw technician: ‘To me the parliament is not going good. They haven’t done anything good for the people. As a matter of fact, it is a fight down.
Everybody wants power and if they continue to behave like that the country would not go forward. It is the small people like me would punish. To me, Rohee get big now and he should come out and just be around the party. There are a lot of other ministers who need to come out by now and give the youths a chance. A lot of young people came out from UG and they are not getting work. My daughter has about eight subjects in business administration. She sent out a lot of applications but she is still home. She worked at Macorp for about two years but she left to go back to UG to get another certificate.
I am a ‘saw doctor’ by trade; I repair and make saw but I am not getting work so I am just making these knives and so to sell them. I would work at sawmills but most of those businesses have gone into the interior but I am too big now I would not go there to work with them.’

Micheal Sudeen, fish vendor: ‘I believe that unless the parliamentarians co-operate, things would not get better. What they are behaving with in parliament would not do the country any good; it would only sink it backwards. This country is not going anywhere. Since elections everything just shut down. Taxes and the cost for light bill just keep going up but we money going down all the time.
This year is rough for business. People are hardly shopping because this wharf was made into a one-way about two years. We are barely making it to survive. Business dropped by half. I would supply fish in the interior and although gold price is so high, people are hardly buying.’

Trevor Sudeen, fish vendor: ‘I was expecting to see improvement after election but the situation only seems to be getting worse. I think there should be co-operation in parliament. Whenever they have a sitting, they are just trying to make our life harder. Right now I’m trying to come out this country.
Business is really hard; everything just decline. No money is coming in. The public servants are not getting their money and we depend on them to shop. I am from Agricola and right now that place is like a war zone. We are happy that they finally put a police outpost in the village because that was what we wanted all the years. The crime has eased up a bit. We are getting the villagers to come together better but the village still has a bad name whenever you finish.’