The Coil: ‘Rice flour roti nah swell’

by Vidyaratha Kissoon 
The man told me “You know, if you have access to dem coalition people, tell dem dat dey have to do something about de economy. It aint moving”. The man had campaigned for the PPP in the 2011 elections and was involved in the 2006 campaign. He voted for the Coalition in 2015 and still could cuss his former party comrades.   He said “I don’t think this Minister of Finance got it” and we talked a little about who is really responsible for creating the economic plan for Guyana.

Another coalition supporter vex bad – after the janjhat about the lack of women on State boards, he said “Is not only women who not on State boards, is nothing from the 45,000 young people who vote for this coalition. Is a set of old men..!”

At the time of writing, it  has been  89 days since 11 May, 2015, 67 days since 1 June, 2015 , 2 days since 6 August, 2015 which was  30 years since Forbes Burnham died and people were trying desperately to hail him as a man who instilled National Pride , same day as two people with accents on drive home radio talked about how ‘Guyanese is the only people who do not like Guyana” after playing QQ Ghetto Gyal and announcing a  Summer break .

There are young supporters who are rumbling about the first 100 days. The first 100 days was a promise in the manifesto, though apparently there was a thing about not saying from when you count the 100 days or also about how much money was available in the treasury.

The non-supporters seem to be waiting for the failure and for the return of Jagdeo or thinking things like as one woman with a hangover asked me, “You ever know dat in PPP time de country does stup fuh wait pun de budget” .

The things which have been talked about, postponed and which might have been implemented but we are not sure are shaded in blue.  Things shaded in red have been completed. The other things are there for cynics and so on to point fingers at the Government. The VAT thing is a no no unless the 100 days extends to 2016.

The 100 days manifesto did not talk much about immediate economic stimuli or Maduro or floods. There might still be space though for things like “how about the school vouchers being used only to pay people who design and stitch the school bags and school uniforms in Guyana instead of buying Made in China or elsewhere?

Rice Flour
The Rice conference is one of the things which happened for the 100 days. One of the reports from the Conference raised back the rice flour jumbie  It seems like that is what has been left in the public mind about the Rice conference.

A woman selling bread in Mon Repos market and one of her friends talked about rice flour. “Rice flour, rice flour roti nah swell, you cyan clap am”.  “Rice flour a choke, nevah again” I said, “But ayah nah a eat pangeeri?” (a rice flour based condiment used as prashadam in Hindu rituals.)  Two other women laughed with me “Ah we gah fuh eat lawa now, boil am wid coconut milk fuh breakfas’”

The question of rice flour at the conference reportedly came from a farmer though, not any of Burnham’s faithful disciples (or maybe the farmer is one, who knows?). He reportedly claimed that rice flour was being mixed with wheat flour to make food products which were being imported back to Guyana.  The GRDB man talked about rice flour nutrients and so, but the claims are complex.
Banks DIH in Guyana makes something called Tastee Snacks with rice flour and other things. I called and the woman who spoke to me said that they mill their own flour. They have not closed down the line so the product must still be marketable.

The ex-PPP man and I talked about who is really responsible for innovation in Guyana and for sorting out the economy.  The Minister of Agriculture seemed to want the private sector to sort out the rice flour. Does he mean that  “Burnham Bake and Saltfish”  might be better received if a member of the Private Sector Commission  launches it at the Marriott rather than if people are told they have to eat it in the name of Produce or Perish?

Guyana beyond the 100 days will require Guyanese to come up with solutions to the different problems. There has always been a dependence on government, encouraged also by successive governments. Too many Guyanese wait on the government.

Even if rice flour roti cyan swell, there must be other rice based products which can be made and sold. The question of responsibility for finding these alternatives is related to how 2015 Guyana decides on who is responsible for generating the ideas for developing Guyana beyond the manifestos.  This will be a 50^th Independence Anniversary challenge given that half the country seems to be waiting on the government to fail,  while the other half is a mixture of people who wondering why the coalition taking so long to jail Jagdeo and people who getting vex that things taking too long and others who believe their government can do no wrong.