Dear Editor,
I am confused, since it was not so long that the government through the local CWC organizing team went on a campaign to get Guyanese to open up their houses as Bed-N-Breakfast locations and business people were urged to open hotels or spruce up existing ones since they had thousands of guests coming for the World Cup Cricket. I wondered what would happen to all these hotels after, since we have no tourism to speak of and none will come with the present crime rate we are renowned for, a situation further compounded by the dumb introduction of VAT. I figure there will be a multitude of fancy short-time places after CWC.
Anyway, the reason for my confusion was the appearance in the press this week of an article proudly stating that the Bed-N-Breakfast people would have to do their own marketing to get guests to occupy their spruced-up rooms or apartments. That has got to be total madness.
I remember that residents of the areas near the stadium were approached by the local CWC reps and asked to open their homes. They were given an idea of what was required and responding to the request they made the necessary alterations etc. The CWC team did their inspection and if the abode did not meet the requirements they had to do further adjustments. All of this at extreme cost in many cases and some even took mortgages to do the necessary but they were assured their reward would be in the US$$$$$ payment for their efforts when the thousands of expected guests came for cricket.
What craziness now for them to learn at this late date that they have to do their own soliciting of guests. Somebody has got to be really mad.
As we are on the subject of cricket, why is the government not naming the stadium after the man who brought the first World Cup to Guyana and did it again later before he retired as captain of the WI Cricket team? Every other WI country which built a new stadium, including our immediate neighbours Trinidad, named their new stadium after a cricket great but not Guyana.
Then there is the matter of the CWC official opening. When watching the wonderful cultural presentation, my only regret was that Guyana was not part of that spectacular part of history of our dear Caribbean. Imagine my consternation when I opened the paper on Monday to see the minister saying that Guyana deliberately did not send any representative and the stupid reason put forward. We should have jumped at the opportunity.
Once again I am convinced we have a culturally unaware government. The minister (according to the newspaper report) further stated that Guyana’s culture would be showcased during the lunch break of the locally played matches- doesn’t he know that when there is a lunch break the other non-Guyanese TV stations go to break and show their own stuff so the world would see nothing of Guyana. He also said there would be shows in Guyana but those are also not part of the permanent historical record of the opening ceremony. They must really think we are mud heads.
Yours faithfully,
Emily James
