Dear Editor,
President Jagdeo invited a few esteemed villagers to a fancy dinner party, compliments of the Guyanese taxpayers, and then last week visited Buxton and met with a section of the community. Since then there has been an outpouring of emotion in and out of the media as to this seemingly sinister move by the government and some of the citizens of Buxton. After all, Buxton in a time not so distant was the eye-pass of the government. Buxtonians were viewed as belonging to the opposition and bent on condoning the erosion of law and order on the East Coast which ultimately affected the national security of the country as a whole.
Now that the gunmen have left, Buxton remains underdeveloped, and with an election not too far away, the PPP/C election roadshow began with this most historical visit by the President.
This visit by President Jagdeo should not be viewed as any major threat. It’s election time and this is a public relations initiative. The desired result is to drive confusion among the opposition forces most aligned to the Buxtonians.
Generally I don’t believe that the village of Buxton will vote for the PPP/C. The Buxtonian apologists might, but I seriously don’t believe the Buxton villager will go out there on election day and place his or her ‘X’ beside the cup.
The people of Buxton need to stop others from using them as scapegoats. Buxtonians need to remember people like Shaka Blair who were gunned down mercilessly by members of the Guyana Police Force.
They need to remember that it was the same President who is now wining and dining the chosen few, who was in charge of their security and allowed Donna Herod’s death to remain a mere casualty of a crime war without any proper investigation and justice being served to her family.
The same way their elders were able to stop the governor’s train and demand he listen to their concerns, the same way contemporary Buxtonians must stop others from using them as pawns to be shuffled around for the narrow political gains of a few. Buxtonians have to ask themselves: Why after 18 years of ‘democratic rule’ their village still remains one of the most underdeveloped in Guyana.
Yours faithfully,
Richard Francois
