Dear Editor,
A few days ago I read two interesting items: One was a response to a letter by Lincoln Lewis written by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, ‘Boilers, steam turbines, alternators are still in the steam power station in Linden (SN, May 11), and the other was, ‘Life and death at Linden by AA Fenty (SN, February 7, 1997), in which he described a picture of gloom, despair and lost sense of hope. This article written fifteen years ago was just as if it was written Feb 7 last, and it is indeed troubling that so much of what Fenty described in 1997 is hardly any different from the situation in Linden today. Which leaves one to conclude that the community must have stopped in time. The Prime Minister’s missive on the other hand describes Linden as “being much better off today than it was in 1983 or 1992.” Here is Fenty:
“The word-pictures of life in Linden painted by Mr Bynoe especially come alive vividly even though my visit was short and limited to the Mackenzie section only. But the images were immediate, vivid and dismal as that rainy day. I know that the run-down state of affairs is most likely duplicated in many communities across Guyana. But the physical deterioration in Linden speaks of neglect, as it does of the nature and origin of municipal, social and economic decay and of course power play politics. Everything in down-town Mackenzie seemed shoddy and shanty-town in appearance. After decades still the risky, ages-old boat landings where passengers embark or clamber from little boats not near any modernity. You don’t sense any opportunity or hope for the future as you inspect or talk with locals. Instead, there seems to be depression, acceptance and despair. As Government explaining the origin and development of the decadence and the opposition types outline the spiteful neglect of an uncaring administration”.
The article spoke of neglected victims of a trying time and dismal future: “As Barrow and Bynoe share and trade ideas and insults with Hinds and Kissoon, Lindeners cry out for better roads, low cost electricity, consumer goods, housing and healthcare. But the jobs are not there, the employment opportunities not evident…. The rest is unfortunate history as the PPP/C entered the scene and the last vestiges of company town status disappeared.“
That was 15 years ago. And talking about the disappearance of vestiges, I say once again, when bauxite is no more it is likely that we will not have anything left as a testimony to the memory of a people, a community that operated a bauxite industry.
Today 15 years later much of the above is very evident: staggeringly high unemployment/under employment; roads in a deplorable state – some a nightmare; the stench of uncollected garbage; silted-up, blocked drains, and the town an unwholesome spectacle with every drop of rain; questionable health care, in spite of the boasted astronomical sums spent to build this new ‘state of the art’ hospital; not much to see of the boat landings – at least nothing near to modernity; and on low cost electricity I say nothing. “Depression, acceptance and despair” walk hand in hand around with their counterparts – frustration, limited opportunities and little hope for the future. Young impatient men and disappointed ‘big‘ men remain fodder for rogue politicians as they are manipulated to suit their fancy. The bauxite industry: Bosai remains the primary earner of foreign exchange, but employs under 400 workers, the lowest ever in the history of the bauxite company. Don’t label me a prophet of doom; I’m simply highlighting the way thing are at Linden, and checking similarities.
Yet for all this our PM states that we are much better off today. Thus in his response to Lincoln Lewis in which he rebuked him and suggested: “It is time that Mr Lewis put aside his rose-tinted glasses of the glory days of bauxite… And look for new opportunities and help us create a renaissance of Linden on new up-to-date bases.“ He posits further that the retrenchment in 1983 of 2,000 workers – about one third of the workforce approximately, “was the greatest assault on Linden; that was when Linden entered its lowest period.“ Carefully read, one senses an undertone, though I wouldn’t argue with that. While we cannot doubt the PM’s good intentions that the community move beyond the past glory days and into the future with new adventurism and creative vigour, in spite of his repeated stern admonitions, he is not on record as having made any tangible contribution beyond berating us. Thus the community has not been lucky to benefit from his expertise or the workings of his insightful and imaginative mind in searching for new opportunities, and exploiting new and up-to-date data.
On the specific issue of electricity, it was stated before that the increase was intended to regularize the town of Linden, bring it onto the national grid and make it more progressive. Strange logic to me, since how will connecting Linden‘s electricity to the national grid make it more progressive and improve our well-being? Now, Mr Lewis, who has now become a thorn in the side of the PPP/C administration, in his counter to the PM’s letter captioned ‘The issue at Linden is not about electricity‘ (SN, May 15) was very enlightening and educational. He painted a brighter picture on a number of important matters; cleared up many misconceptions, untruths, dealings and hypocrisy, putting them in a proper perspective. To be blunt, his letter exposed the PM as being disingenuous, for nowhere could he have forgotten or be so misinformed on so many important matters, since he was a decision-maker all along.
Our PM, admired for his perspicacity and memory, spun a web of selectivity for obvious reasons. He wanted all Guyana and more so the ordinary struggling working-class people not only to understand the gross disparity in price paid for electricity in Linden/Region 10, but also highlight that of a “spoiled” set of people grown accustomed to ‘freeness‘ and ‘cheapness,‘ being unreasonable in demanding that they be granted special favours. Thus in selecting the juicy pieces – the blunders of the former government – he presents his case, thinking he has made the point that justifies the government’s intentions to raise electricity rates, a crafty move to ‘foment‘ support. He finds nothing wholesome or creditable, deserving of a people, who at times under treacherous conditions made a living from the belly of the earth; worked, fought and won concessions at the bargaining table, stood tall and made a grand contribution to national development. Yet all that for him is of very little or of no consequence. He acknowledged just where we stand today, but cared not a toss about how things came to be.
But how do a people turn back what was struggled for and won, when it’s all tied to battles endured, and should be preserved rather than reversed, no matter who comes or goes – except the industry and community disappear. Times have changed yes, but we cannot cancel out gains fought for by our predecessors who made the initial sacrifice, many of which were inducements to workers. It seems to me that everything the workers of Linden fought for, that should have been with them till this day is being trampled upon or ungraciously snatched from us. But we haven’t seen the same passion and eagerness to correct the negatives and other disgusting things that still affect us, as in when we are being denied what was respectfully won by struggles. Understand, as resident Gregory Parkinson pointed out, there are still many pensioners/former workers living under the very same conditions that gave rise to the negotiations for these benefits and inducements.
The Prime Minister must be alerted to the fact that he is not accurate in stating that “Mr Lewis and other leaders have fomented Lindeners to refuse to pay more.“ The large majority of Lindeners, working-class folks and the unemployed are not dummies; no one has to spur them on when they recognize wrongs and injustice. The reality they face is that they lack the ability to pay any increase. With or without Mr Lewis and others they are prepared to stand in defiance of the intended increase, which as the PM has said will start with 50% and soon the full national rate. But Mr Lewis and other leaders have not committed a crime, they have only lent support to what they have considered to be an unjust and unconscionable assault on the community. It is just as Mr Charles Ceres did when he lent support in enlightening the community on the harmful effects of the dust pollution we have been enduring since the beginning of the industry. By the way, with all the talk on this dust nuisance, I haven’t heard a single word from our PM – although perhaps I might stand corrected.
Finally, with all due respect, and from all evidence I have to say that the Prime Minister, a former engineer in the bauxite industry and resident of the Linden community, who has served as President on a number of occasions, for all his worth has never done anything for the benefit of his former home-town, and that is a disappointment which Lindeners will not love him for. The intended electricity increase which he is spearheading has placed him further in an unenviable position, though I think he cares not.
Let me end by saying that it would not be fair for me to subscribe to the idea “that the only thing wrong with bauxite, Linden and Lindeners is the PPP/C Government” as was said by the PM in reference to Mr Lewis‘s approach. Far from it, but there are indeed multiple wrongs.
Yours faithfully,
Frank Fyffe
