A not-so invisible hand is always at work in Guyanese politics

Jan 06, 2019 Letters

---

Dear Editor,
There is a not-so-invisible hand that has been intimately involved in Guyanese politics for decades. One is hard pressed to look at a national election and not recognize the handiwork or tacit approval or silent blessing of what has been thumbprint, palm-print, and footprint of an undeniable and distinctive character. In terms of footprint, and from the Guyana experience, it has been as unnerving and life-altering as that of the fabled Bigfoot.

Whether looked at closely or casually, the record of history speaks for itself; it is not too quiet. They got rid of Cheddi
Jagan in a very crude and violent manner (the Red Menace); they empowered LFS Burnham and then he was slowly strangled and gutted in his presence, and his programmes (socialism); the return of Dr. Jagan and the earlier ascension of Desmond Hoyte were cut short by time, circumstance and, on these two specific occasions, by natural causes brought about by the arrival of the Grim Reaper. They were the fortunate ones. Fast-forward a couple of decades, and the same foreign movers and shakers begged, pleaded, warned, and even threatened to no avail: change your evil ways. Nobody deigned to listen. Then came May 2015.
It was a repeat of the same story from across the decades here in torn, trying-to-find-its-footing Guyana. This time around there was no hard ideology involved. This time around, it was the new imperialism: drugs and money laundering. Do not do it. For good measure and to close the circle, countering of the financing of terrorism was kneaded into the overripe dough. Well, the result was that the hapless Donald Ramotar and his cohorts went down into the dustbin. They did not want to learn. They refused to listen. They paid the price: the political wilderness. That is, until the time is right, the omens are favourable, and the word is given. Guess by whom?

I forget which Act or Scene it is, and I am too lazy to go and check. But there is that one that all the schoolboys and whippersnappers know. There is a tide in the affairs of men, which when taken at the flood leads to… And now, there are these circumstances in the post no-confidence shakeout and the beginning of the pre-something era. Well, the pre-something what? According to the pundits, panjandrums, political paparazzi, and assorted local powers of persuasion, it could be the courts, early elections, and anything else other than continuity in government. Do I hear applause? Somehow, I am not hearing something else. It is that something-not-so-invisible, certainly influential and potent and pragmatic and utterly implacable-that every local authority and mastermind has found convenient, if not clever, to ignore and minimize to the point of dismissal. They do so at great peril to their positions. Perhaps, it does not align with the flighty trajectory of arguments; or the clinical arc of calculations and projections.

That may be so, and well and good. But there are some formidable sinister realities on the ground in this here. Guyana which are not going away in any material form or anytime soon. First, there is the embedded narcotocracy and its even more insidious sorority house of money launderers. As houses go, this one possesses the scale and sweep of empire and the entrenched roots and tentacles of the dynastic. The problem that compounds all those election calls and the aftermath is that the drugs and dirty powers have a known and notorious political lineage, as well as continuing political brotherhood. The hand that influenced the final outcome of the last election does not want a return of those who stonewalled and sabotaged its interdiction and general curative efforts. Given the circumstances of local politics it is, I think, prepared to accept a shared arrangement with the group that enjoys some limited trust. So while men speak of elections (which will occur at some time and in some incarnation), I am already beyond that point in the calendar, and projecting the configuration of any new government. Necessity, demography, ethnicity, and continuity are all key components of what will be made to stand (or totter) in some form of governance structure. I see this, in short, as an arrangement where everybody gets a piece of the action, the outsiders are satisfied, and the mechanism allows for regrouping and some degree of stability. All the rest of the talking and jockeying are moot. Look carefully, all the clamour and chatter are in perpetuation of what has happened over each election cycle and the long decades. That cannot come into play again.
As a practical matter, I ask, after not quite four years, which successor government of another stripe will be permitted to strive or get off its knees? More phantom squads, anyone? The opposite is also true, in that the incumbents cannot retain hold on power as is currently, and so have to clear the way for a process to occur or table options.
In addition to those volatile domestic elements, I now introduce oil and Exxon. There are the economics involved, and the crude that takes on increasing significance beyond the discoveries. There are matters that go beyond pure profit. With Russia now inseparable from OPEC and virtually controlling that body, the whole Western military apparatus is in the middle of an unprecedented scenario and scrambling for fallback options and Plan Bs. Shale oil and oil shocks aside, for the first time since the dawn of the Oil Age, the West is neither monopoly power nor final determinant in the world of oil. Now, Guyana’s oil is beginning to resemble more of a strategic reserve. To compound matters, Russian bombers recently made an appearance over there, and there is hazy talk of a base. Such a development would be considered an incursion (unacceptable, to be sure) and one that cannot be tolerated in the backyard and hemispheric lake. As if all of that is not enough, there has to be anxieties over Russian boldness, watchfulness about socialist Venezuela, and keen concern regarding the fellow-travellers around these parts. Together, these furnish added impetus for Guyana’s elections to result in a particular construction, and be bereft of certain ideological inclinations and economic bloodlines. The latter will prompt settling for dilution, instead of elimination. This is what the territory will absorb, and I suspect already mapped out with some wrinkles to be smoothed over. The going is sure to be intriguing as the days lengthen.

Sincerely,
G H K Lall

---

---