Dear Editor,
The picture of the people on the Grassy Mound in the stadium hit home how ugly Guyana has become in terms of economic class divisions.
Can’t a modern stadium, in a supposedly civilised country be designed so as to allow people who could afford the lowest ticket prices comfortable seating in a shaded environment? While the ‘working class’ leaders sat in their luxurious suites (and I would assume that they could have sat on the Grassy Mound if they wanted), people who like cricket and who stumped up 5,000 dollars had to sit on the grassy mounds what there were about 8,000 empty plastic seats in stands?
So money rules the world. I wonder whether the working class leaders (in Government and in Opposition) could have stumped up some money to loan the stadium to build the extra stand with some comfortable seats and some shade? Like how they loaned for the luxury hotel?
I wonder too if in the next few matches, as a country, we could assert our independence and tell the ICC that since the seats are empty, the grassy mound people could go sit in the empty plastic seats in the stand.. if they want to?
Did the ICC with its supposedly high standards allow this design to pass? This is the kind of evidence we have of how the state has to protect private sector interests. In another story, we learn of how the police rushed to detain, question and humiliate the staff of Republic Bank; based on no evidence while after the attack outside Sheriff Street, there is no urgent police investigation into the attack on an Amerindian family.
Yours faithfully,
Vidyaratha Kissoon
