My first memory of the kind of substantial blackouts that have recently returned with a vengeance was in 1976, on my return from Cuba after attending the first Guyana/Cuba Joint Commission meeting that was headed on the Guyana side by Senior Minister Desmond Hoyte. That was some 43 years – nearly half a century – ago, and the despondency this type of persistent backwardness breeds perhaps can be best expressed by someone from the actual ‘blackout generation’.
‘Maybe as a child I never thought there would ever be an end to blackouts. I was born in the 80s and grew up in the 90s and it seemed like just the norm. But certainly as an adult, having experienced life in other countries where there are no power outages except in circumstances like natural disasters, I have come to expect that an end to blackouts in Guyana should not be a hope for tomorrow, a possibility for the next year or a maybe in the next decade. The time has long passed when we should have resolved this problem.’ (Mosa Telford. SN 15/06/2019)
She says that Guyanese are very humble, they peacefully protest and are vocal in expressing their grievances but do not riot, and that the various governments have done little to end the situation because ‘we have allowed them to’. She opines that Guyana is potentially a very rich country but yet ‘many of our citizens would eat bricks if they were edible, would engage in self-destruction if not for family and friends, or would run away if they could. Well, many have run away.’ After outlining some of the difficulties persistent lengthy blackouts pose to both the business and the domestic sectors, Ms. Telford ends in despair: ‘When will we permanently see an end to blackouts? It is time.’
