Dear Editor,
In a recent letter, I made mentioned an incident that occurred on the West Coast of Demerara, between officials of the GNBS and a foreign operated store. Apart from a statement being issued of the store operators being arrested for assault, nothing else of the proceedings could be heard. My concern is that foreigners are being allowed to enter Guyana, defy the Laws of Guyana and flood the markets with inferior products, and assault representatives when they try to enforce the law.
My other concern is, were these officials on an operation or was they conducting an illegitimate raid with the intentions of collecting bribes? A few days ago, in Berbice, boldly displayed for sale, were inferior products that the authorities instructed to be removed from the shelves. I could safely say that specific foreign operated stores that I have visited seems to be defying instructions and selling the inferior products. Is there some arrangements between them and officials?
Repeatedly I’ve been saying that there’s many qualified people seeking jobs in Guyana, and if the relevant agencies are understaffed, they should employ and train. But that might be an impossible task, because there’s many holding position and stifling progress by not expanding. Some could be politically/racially or financially motivated to prevent progress. It’s amazing to know that even though there’s claims that Guyana is moving forward, we are still being forced to rely on an antiquated system. Everything is in Georgetown and officials have to leave there for outer regions, should they choose to monitor what happening.
Editor, Guyana boasts of it forestry and the wide variety of woods being used locally and exported. Over the years, furniture manufacturing evolved into a thriving business, and almost anyone who could use a saw and hammer, ventured into this field, without any proper training. Many store owners buy to resell, and they seek the cheapest source to gain huge profits. Some manufacturers even selling themselves. Whilst many are lacking in creativity, a lot are made with the cheapest materials and wood. I could boldly say that you will pay a huge amount of money for your furniture and sadly, in Guyana, you getting the lowest grade of furniture. Below the cover, you will discover your furniture is made with ‘form’ board, a type of wood that is popularly used as temporary construction material, which is discarded after one use.
Another material being used is the popular MDF board. Both of these materials are magnet for termites and should they get water, one starts swelling and the other rots. Recently, I discovered all the issues listed occurring to all my furniture, and I posted my dismay on social media only to get comments and messages from others facing similar situations. One person advised that there’s agencies I could go to lodge complaints, but my argument is, there’s agencies to take complaints, why don’t they make systematic checks to these stores and issue an advisory to save the public? These people are getting paid to do nothing and stifling progress in Guyana. Government should find means to get rid of these ornaments in office. But then again, election period, many businesses donate campaign money and get a free rein to bleed the citizens after.
Sincerely,
Sahadeo Bates
