Dear Editor,
Earlier this week, we witnessed a horrific event that has left us as a nation traumatised. It was the sinking of the MV Barima with more than 100 persons on board.
This tragedy has benumbed our senses as we witnessed the unfolding of this shockingly scary event; words cannot express how I feel about this matter; but, my solace and comfort lie in the All-Seeing Eyes of The Almighty.
We shall get through this and we shall overcome as a people; Guyana will never be the same again. We will be a stronger and greater nation as we unite in payer and supplication in this our time of need.
There are all types of statements and street analyses coming forth as a result of this horrific event, chief of the accusers being the opposition. They have not spared the effort to make this tragic event into a political field day for themselves, which tells us that that there are underlying, sinister factors that have to be examined before any conclusions can be arrived at.
Was this a natural disaster, or was it an act of terrorism? Only time and a detailed analysis, that we can really say what happened that tragic night.
So, we get down to a few of these events that took place in recent times. We recall the Adriana Younge case where that little girl accidentally drowned in a private pool. That little girl’s death in a second was turned into a political standoff between the government and the opposition. Millions of dollars in damage to property resulted because of an enraged crowd who were facilitated by prominent figures in the opposition; they threatened, burned and looted as they went ballistic.
They carried out that demonic rampage with the surety that the voodoo story they were carrying was the real issue. But it was not. The real issue was politics and the gaining of cheap political points, that was the motive behind those riots.
Some semblance of order was restored when three internationally renowned pathologists gave their scientific findings as to the real cause of death.
In the recent past, we learnt of the murder of Courtney Crum-e-Wing, three days before the 2015 Election. In that event, the PNC vowed to have an inquiry into his death if they were elected to office. That party did win the elections but did not lift a finger to commit to an inquiry, even though there was a mountain of evidence – as they claim – to bring in the PPP/C government guilty of the offence.
Fast forward to a Venezuelan who knew not a word of English, could come into Guyana to plant a bomb at a petrol station in the heart of Georgetown. The questions that a sane person would ask: how did he get here? Was he a paid assassin? Who was led into our country to commit that deadly act? I am of the firm belief he was that paid assassin, and will believe so until we get down to further details as to him coming here and who was his hirer. It would appear that way more lives would have been lost if that plan was executed in its exactitude.
The seizing of 23 AK-47 guns; these are no chance occurrences. In a country that is not at war with its neighbours? Is it that we are not against external threats as we are internally, think about it my readers?
It behooves us now that all points of entry and exit that is, by land, air, and sea, be monitored by CCTV cameras.
With our ears to the ground, there is some chattering that this disastrous event would have taken place on a similar ferry boat at the 60th anniversary celebrations en route to Fort Island. But plans were supposedly aborted due to the obvious nature of such an act taking place on a brand-new ocean-going vessel. I rest my case!
I hasten to a close to say this: with a man looking like Jim Jones, parading himself as an angel of light, leaves one to come to a shocking conclusion: why is he so much involved? The vessel hasn’t been salvaged so why the rush to judgement? What is there to gain? I use the term “dancing on the dead bodies floating out on the ocean.” What a sadistic display by giving the ghoulish description of dead bodies, what is his point?
Before the killing of nearly a thousand persons at Jonestown, Jim Jones was that so called “Good and honourable person,” doing humanitarian work, such as the healing of souls at many of his evangelistic outreaches. However, beneath that facade was a very troubled man who could have overseen the deaths of nearly a thousand persons, women and children included; the rest is history.
In like manner, Guyana has seen another of these tragic events in the MV Barima’s sinking. We weep and we mourn. We will bury our dead with dignity, but be assured my people, we will salvage that ship and get to the bottom of it all. We will not rest. We will carry out every detailed investigation into what really took place, what really caused the MV Barima to go under.