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The woes of local political leaders
One thing is now both obvious and undeniable: local political leadership is furiously focused on appealing to and satisfying the passions of their base.
The visions of aspiring to greatness and what could be ever-so-positive for people and country are simply not there; there are only the smug satisfying obsessions with reaching one’s own faithful, and that is that. Job done. Results guaranteed. The circle begins again.
It is a crooked circle pretending to be constructed of clean lines; of arcs straight in intents and purposes, and reflective of a combination of pragmatism, idealism, and realism. This society can be made to work. It can work at a different level from that in which it has always languished trapped and useless to itself, and helpless for any bigger, really demanding objectives with national import.
Thus, the political family clans have prevailed, with the wider racial tribes waiting to consume the fare that flows outward and downward from benevolent chiefs and elders. There is settled complacency that shows no signs of any interest in being any other way.
Attitudes are about the immediate; reactionaries either responding to political stimuli or manufacturing such through energizing an instigated base.
An emotional toehold is always guaranteed, and life continues within that narrow band of no movement, nothing new, and the rancidness of the stale and old. This is why Guyanese political leaders experience such inner psychic resistance, when circumstances of success signal that there has mandatorily to occur a transition from campaigning and politicizing to that of administering and governing. They are unable to do so; just cannot happen, and is not, even if leaders were so inclined.
They are outstanding and consistent at whipping up racial fidelity and voter loyalty. But after that, there is nothing to recommend. No values or visions, no character or conduct that embodies a national thrust with truly lasting national depth.
Anybody with half of a head, and enough cunning and volume can appeal to primeval instincts lurking in the breast; it takes much more to move the minds through sturdy issues and the ready initiative and outlay of political and personal capital.
A genuinely interested political leader and political group would condition and compel followers to move away from the narrow partisan, which has stunted thinking, limited growth, and diminished potential.
If they were truly committed to the big picture and longer-term visions of what gives less now to one’s own for a greater spread later, with the promise of more increments in the continuous future, then there is so much more that becomes achievable. Guyana should be able to extricate itself from its sick state, and rehabilitate itself into a society that is more equal, more energized, and more zealous to draw closer to its potentials.
For any of this to be given a chance to be deliverable, leaders have to lead by breaking away from the norm of the barely passable and the restraints of the pack that agitates against change that threatens their share of the pie.
The dining table is fully occupied as it is; why go out of the way to invite those who do not have, and are effectively barred from partaking of the fruits of governance?
Leaders have to be bold to the point of daring. Those who aspire to a different vision for a different Guyana will not succeed by being so defensive as to do nothing. Leaders are going to have to be creative risk takers to an unparalleled degree, and with one thing in mind: allow this society to breathe, so it can stand on two feet, not one.
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