Khan’s Chronicles
THERE have been no blaring newspaper headlines and the so-called TV talk show hosts are not snarling and tearing their hair out about it.

In fact, some people seem determined to keep it quiet but the news somehow leaked out.

Although there has been no official announcement, the word is that non-residents now need a visitor’s visa if they want to enter Buxton and Friendship on the East Coast Demerara.

You don’t believe me?

Well, what other conclusion can you come to after the news last week that gunmen have ordered a halt to work on a new road in Friendship because they fear it may make it easier for the police to get into the area?

If Buxton/Friendship is not a state unto itself, with its own government and laws and regulations on who can enter and who cannot, how come gunmen can order workers employed by the state of Guyana on a road and drainage project to benefit residents, to halt the work?

Who’s really running things in that part of the country?

I hadn’t heard that Buxton/Friendship had declared itself a breakaway state from the Republic of Guyana and had set up an internal government, complete with border security guards.

But the release last week from the Government Information Agency (GINA) on the halt to the state project in Friendship, all but announced that a new government had taken over in Buxton/Friendship.

According to the agency, the project was being executed by the Guyana Government through the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF) and involved the construction of a road, roadside drains and drainage structures at Yaya Roland Avenue, Friendship Middle Street.

It said that in a letter to the BNTF Project Manager, the supervisor of the engineering and consultancy company noted that on April 1, workers on the site were ordered to stop the excavation of the carriageway and to remove a machine from the street by men armed with guns.

The gunmen indicated that the construction of the specific section of the street would provide easy access to the area by the police and as such, the construction would not be allowed, the agency reported.

It said the supervisor reported that the matter was subsequently raised with the Chairman of the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) and some residents.

End of item — nothing from GINA about the Guyana Government’s stand on the turn of events and what was being done to put down this rebellion.

Astonishingly also, the GINA item was issued 17 days after the gunmen ordered out the workers sent there by the Government of Guyana.

The Chronicle managed to get into the area through the `back track’ (we won’t be able to get Buxton visas) to check out the story but found people too scared to talk. We were able to photograph the abandoned road and drainage site but residents begged our photographer to leave quickly in case the border patrols turned up.

We didn’t see the flag adopted by the new state of Buxton/Friendship flying on flagpoles around the district, but they don’t need them, do they?

After all, the gunmen have stuck their middle fingers up like so many flagpoles and their message is clear.

What makes this all even more galling is that the BNTF is the flagship of the poverty reduction programme of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) under which Guyana is a major beneficiary and this `up yours’ from the gunmen ruling Buxton/Friendship is a slap in the face for the Guyana Government and the CDB.

The Guyana Government will next month host the 35th annual meeting of the CDB Board of Governors — the first time since 1978 that a CDB annual meeting will be held here.

There will be a week of activities before the Governors’ Meeting and among the distinguished delegates coming here for the event is President of the European Investment Bank, Philippe Maystadt.

Guyana is a founding member of the CDB which has financed major projects here, including schools, community centres, roads and sea defence.

The CDB’s help is also critical in helping Guyana recover from the disastrous January floods.

The team coordinating preparations for the meeting plans to take delegates and others to the CDB meeting to site visits outside of Georgetown so that they can see more of the country.

Will these visits include Buxton/Friendship where gunmen have halted a CDB BNTF project?

I wonder who will issue the visas to those overseas delegates coming in and planning to take in the sights at Buxton/Friendship, and who will shepherd them around?

And are you still wondering why so many Guyanese are seeking U.S., Canadian, British and other visas and trying the `back track’ when they are turned down?