It is perhaps a telling sign of the breakdown of respect for law and order in this country that even after President Jagdeo had visited Linden and given commitments for the restoration of the electricity and water supply that some inhabitants of the town defiantly continued blocking key thoroughfares, virtually holding sections of the community hostage.
It is not the way in which presidential authority should be asserted and the continued defiant behaviour of Lindeners, characterized by acts of vandalism such as the ditching of roads, is completely unacceptable. It is the Buxton recipe.
There was and is widespread sympathy for Linden over the collapse of the electricity and water supplies in the town. Everyday life anywhere is a nightmare without these two essential services and it is probably worse to have intermittent supplies than none at all. Nevertheless, the loutish behaviour that has been on display cannot be condoned and is counterproductive. It certainly cannot improve the efficiency of the three sets loaned to Linden by the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) or speed up the delivery of potable water but the unrest has strengthened the perception that the government is susceptible to street pressure and honed the view in other communities that this type of mass chaos and confusion is the ticket to wringing concessions from the State.
It was Prime Minister Sam Hinds, with longstanding ties to the town, who was first subjected to the crude behaviour of the Lindeners. Having been asked to address protesters who were several days into their blocking of the Wismar-Mackenzie bridge, the Prime Minister was abused by the crowd and forced to abandon his attempt to address the protesters after several minutes. It was perhaps his unease at this hostile reception that prompted him to inquire from the crowd whether President Jagdeo would be safe if he came to address the protesters as they were demanding. Besides being anxious for the safety of the President, the Prime Minister was also probably concerned about whether the protesters would show the required respect to the President. They didn't.
The President visited the day after and explained the situation to residents. It wasn't the fact that there were testy, forthright and aggressive exchanges with the President that marred the occasion. It was the provocative decision of some residents to continue their blockades even after the President had acceded to their demands and visited the community.
In other circumstances, the protesters would have been told what improvements were planned and advised firmly that if they did not end their disruptive blockades they would be forcibly removed by the law enforcement authorities. Even when the President revisited the area last Tuesday and pledged $50M to help with a dust nuisance road, the residents continued their barricading of the bridge. Out of a tight budget, the protesting Lindeners had been rewarded with $50M to repair a road when the primary cause for their agitation had been electricity and water. It was the kind of drift that is the hallmark of an administration susceptible to a particular type of pressure.
Maybe the President had calculated that it was wiser to avoid a confrontation with residents thereby creating another flashpoint in a country beset by economic, political and crime crises. He may also have calculated that there was political capital to be made - venturing into a PNCR stronghold and making a brief appearance with the party's leader while making concessions. Whatever the calculation, it did nothing for the image of law and order. It also demonstrated how easily a few hundred determined Lindeners could paralyse traffic into and out of the town anytime they wanted and how helpless the police - already stretched thin - were in trying to resolve the crisis. It is something that could spell much trouble in the future.
Aside from their own problems, Lindeners might have been aware that the capital city was also in the middle of a power crisis and water was also in short supply if only for other reasons. Moreover, the capital and the East Coast continue to be besieged by an unrelenting wave of crime which only days ago saw the kidnapping of an American diplomat. The country cannot stay afloat having to lurch from one crisis to the next. When problems are identified and solutions promised there must be some ease of the pressure and this is what Linden failed to appreciate.
Where Georgetown and the East Coast are concerned, many months have passed and the government and its security forces have failed comprehensively to address the problem. Yet there has been resigned forbearance while public pressure continues to build on the government in more traditional ways.
It is hoped that Linden will give the concessions it has wrung from the government a real opportunity to work and end the destabilising tactics on the bridges, roads, etc. Many citizens of Linden have suffered severe losses because of these unconscionable acts and the fragile economy of the region will not be able to sustain these setbacks.