Dear Editor,
When the MV Barima went down it took more than those unfortunate Guyanese, who are never going home again. It also took down sections of the PPP Government. Water flooding the nostrils and minds of some. They are flailing arms. Foundering on this point. Making points on marine issues, when they could rarely make any on their own portfolios. Their minds are so mixed up, now they are covering everything, talking about anything. When 100 men, women, and children died how they did, that is not a calamity, it is of political depravity. And to conceal the horror, the tale changes frequently. What scheme is being hatched now?
First, Guyanese heard that the MV Barima was unsalvageable. Then, it could be, but it would be costly. One spoke smartly of how it would take so much to float the boat. I say float the boat anyway. Use every means, every method. Spend as many dollars as needed. We can build a big castle for Exxon. Surely, it can spend a few measly American dollars to bring up a li’l boat. And when so many millions could be spent on eating, drinking, and merrymaking, like there is no tomorrow, why is money suddenly a part of today’s conversation?
There was another great guy who was as mum as a marble on crude oil matters. Today, he’s more garrulous than the other bright fellows when it comes to raising Barima.
Raise it, I say. Damnit! Just raise it! All Guyanese should demand it. All lives matter. Let no life be cheaper than another, even though its late owner may once have belonged to the interior. Float that boat, I say. Let the world know how many souls perished onboard down below. And, I don’t mean Australia. Let all Guyanese see for themselves the horror of a cardboard casket that the governors of this country forced upon the mostly poor and weak and helpless in Guyana to travel the Atlantic. Let everybody see for themselves, how much that boat was overloaded with people. Let them see with what kind of vehicles and how many. When I say everybody, I mean everybody gets to peer quietly and imagine the horrors. From the U.S. Ambassador to Exxon’s viceroy to all of those Canadian gold people in the hinterlands to the Chinese engaging in the same around there. They get to pronounce on democracy and integrity in leadership.
Float the boat, I cry. Because what happened to the MV Barima and those luckless citizens trapped in that sardine can of a sampan was more than a tragedy. It was a crime. And it is not at the hand of the three scapegoats now tied to whipping posts. In the U.S. men like them are called ‘working stiffs.’ The label just took up residence in Guyana. Everything with the PPP Government has been about a dodge, a crime-in-waiting, a skim and a scam. Then, the natural progression to clumsy coverup. It’s one of the larger local ironies that the MV Barima tragedy came in handy when the nation was riveted on land, and the talk was all about fowl and duck, and some exotic aquatic creatures. Don’t worry, that never went off the radar. The tragedy just sidelined it.
Now, I say lift the sloop that was the Barima. Guyanese get a chance to observe firsthand their first underwater monument closeup. Instead of the early official hurry to leave the MV Barima as an aquatic treasure, lift up the boat, and there would be Guyana’s museum that is an aquarium. Part the curtains. Play the funeral music. Leaving the boat below is leaving a crime scene untouched. Stop the coverup. Float the boat.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
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