Dear President Granger....

Dear President Granger

I hear you used to play chess so there must be some interesting moves you must be making against the PPP and their supporters as the rum industry embraces you.

While I did not vote for you, I do want the government to work out . While picketing isn't working with Minister Lawrence and the child abuse issue , and future President Harmon tying bundle with China,

I know you are keen on local industry and you are probably relieved that the local alcohol industry is not one that has ties to foreign powers and so on and that it does not involve environmental activists and problems with laws and so on

In fact, many people think (Uncle) Yesu Persaud and Clifford Reis are patriots of integrity never mind they have been head of massive (legal) drug dealing operations.

Did you know that back in the day when Clifford Reis was with Hotye, like around 1999/2000/2001 or so, coolie people in Berbice especially boycotted Banks DIH products ? It was like a silent thing, and it worked when Banks DIH had a bottoms up promotion on their quarter bottle rum thing which was protested by some people.

Jagdeo and Yesu had row back in the day. Jagdeo vex bad that DDL and you tie bundle and the taxes which the alcohol industry is supposed to contribute to the development of Guyana have been reduced.  DDL was clear in its praise of you, that you stated your support for the industry.

The last time I recall a President interacting with rum was in an article from  October 2009  in the Kaieteur News in which it is reported that Jagdeo removed the bottle of rum from in front of the podium, before praising DDL for its vision and so on.  You and him have the praise for the industry in common.

You read the papers. You know that alcohol destroys lives in Guyana. You know that there is a push.. never mind the 500000 + VAT bottle of rum, Ansa McAL will reward citizens - men - who drink more man's beer with $50,000  in order to celebrate independence.

There are no incentives for men to stop drinking. A Hindu man told me that he stopped drinking during Navratra. His wife begs, 'when he nah drink, he good good, when he drink is prablmem" 

One or two coolie people have tried to deal with the liquor problem, but it is to to no avail as you probably know, coolie people thrive in the industry.  The PPP have been wishy washy about it and it would be interesting to see if DDL's embrace of you would mean a gradual wholesale boycott of alcohol from the slap-and-strip bheri supporters.

If everybody stopped drinking, the industry have to be innovative and make more methylated spirits and industrial alcohol Maybe the doctors and police could focus on other things than alcohol related incidents, and you might get closer to your dream of Happy Families.


You might know people who are alcoholic. You probably think like many other middle class drinkers that alcohol is not the problem, the drinkers are. 

The trouble is President Granger, there is a myth of moderation in a culture in which according to one concerned businessman, that the culture demands excess consumption.

Dennis Nichols wrote powerfully this in his Kaieteur News Column on the day when DDL praised you and on which liquor bottles fell out of the SUV which was involved in the accident that killed Randolph Bess and Hansranie Persaud.

Daily Argosy (exact date forgotten) February 1916

The liquor industry in Guyana is old. There have been attempts, since 1916 to question this myth of the 'revenue from rum and alcohol' .  People seem scared of the liquor industry. A priest, the successful businessman, a dentist contacted me to say that a letter I wrote was a nice one. They would not write though.

You probably know what you are doing when you enjoy the products of the alcohol industry. Many persons who become destructive when they drink alcohol however, claim they do not. You are President of them ,and the people who suffer.

I  hope that DDL will criticise you for your lack of support for the industry before 2020.

Yours etc

Loser.