Election
tension in Guyana
By
Ruth
Osman
Trinidad
Express
Port
Spain
Petroleumworld.com
08 27 06
Shopowners
in Regent Street, Georgetown's shopping centre,
start to barricade their storefronts. And prices
of food commodities rise, in some cases as much
as 50 per cent, as consumers stock up.
All of this preparation and the
tension that pervades the South American capital
is not due to an impending natural disaster, but
the upcoming national elections.
"The banks are filled; people
are withdrawing money," Guyanese journalist
Bert Wilkinson told the Sunday Express in a phone
interview on Friday. "Everybody's stocking
up ... (they're) afraid that nonsense might happen..."
Guyana has a history of post-election
violence. In 1992, when the People's Progressive
Party (PPP) won for the first time since the country's
independence, rioters took to the streets.
1997's elections were no different.
That year, young Afro-Guyanese held a two-week rampage
in the city, something that the shopkeepers, most
of whom are of Indian descent, have not forgotten.
The PPP's victory in the 2001 polls,
along with allegations of unfair election practices
and discrimination against Afro-Guyanese led to
more unrest.
A post-election statement issued
by the Carter Center, an observer in that year's
elections, read:
"Unfortunately, Guyana's achievements
have been marred by arson, post-election street
violence and lingering doubts among the opposition
party and its supporters as to the accuracy of the
results."
Many Guyanese fear that tomorrow's
elections will mark the start of another cycle of
violence and unrest in the capital city and its
environs.
President Jagdeo has declared the
election date a national holiday, a move which many
see as an attempt to minimise the probability of
a disturbance.
But people aren't taking any chances.
"People are going to come out,
vote, and go right back home, " Celicia Ali,
a communications specialist, told the Sunday Express.
"Some mightn't even come out to vote,"
she continued.
And then there are those who have
left Guyana for safer destinations:
"Lots of people are leaving
between Friday and Sunday and returning around the
third, fourth of September," said a BWIA official.
She also noted that many persons
pushed forward their date of departure to ensure
that they were not in Guyana around the 28th of
August.
Junior Horatio, sales manager of
North American Airlines in Guyana, shared a similar
observation:
"We have noticed that there
are passengers who were booked for the 29th , 31st
of August who have requested to change their travel
dates. But it's not a voluminous amount of passengers,"
he said.
Horatio also admitted that the traffic
out of New
York has not been as heavy as it
usually is around this time of year.
"Usually, what happens right
now is that flights out of New York would be bringing
in those passengers who left in July for holidays
in the US and who are coming in for school ... that
movement hasn't been as heavy as usual," he
continued.
Guyana's resorts have also been
affected:
An employee of Shanklands Adventure
Tours told the Sunday Express, "For the years
I've been working here this is the worst. This is
our peak season ... it ends next month, but people
aren't coming to Guyana ... everybody knows that
this is election time."
In an effort to combat this trend,
Shanklands has devised a "getaway package"
for those who wish to be out of town during elections.
Claiming that the ad was not aimed
at Guyanese, a Shanklands representative said, "We
want people to vote. The ad was for expats, those
who work at the embassies ... also Monday is a holiday
and we know that they might want to be away during
that time."
The nation's security services have
also braced themselves for any disturbance.
In a phone interview with the Sunday
Express, Acting Police Commissioner Henry Greene
said, "We've upped the level of our patrols
coming on to election period so that we could build
the confidence of the people that they'd be peace
and security coming on to elections. It will also
ensure that we can respond adequately and quickly
if something happens."
"We've expanded the number
of patrols and increased our presence in the town,"
Greene continued.
He also noted that no major incidents
had occurred so far. 'We had to arrest one person
who was creating a disturbance at a meeting... but
that was it," he said.
Although they've prepared themselves
for the worst, Guyanese are hoping that Greene's
words will ring true for the whole election period.
"People are just being cautious,
that's all. We're not panicking. There's no mad
rush down Regent Street," Celicia Ali said
with a laugh. "We're just being cautious."
Trinidad Express
Sunday,
August 27th 2006
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©2006 Trinidad Express . All Rights Reserved.
