No good can come from blocking Carter Center observer team return

May 17, 2020 Letters

Dear Editor,

The headlines were screaming on Saturday morning with the news that the Carter Center observer team was blocked from returning to Guyana. I think that it a wrong move, a dead wrong decision, and from which no good can come.

Whatever the coalition’s reasoning I disagree with it. It is bad in appearance, bad in the audibles emanating, and just plain bad all around. It is the wrong move at the wrong time for the wrong reason and, this is paramount, against the wrong people. I would have thought that the coalition’s wise men had learned something from the mistakes of the PPP during the latter part of its tenure. Its people crossed American wires and lines repeatedly, until there came that time when they crossed one wire and line too many. For those whose memories are a shade on the myopic side, I remind them of extraditions denied, games played to protect wanted men, and generally uncouth conduct, all the way to the plenipotentiary’s official residence.

My caution to the coalition is to not play games with the Americans; do not mess with them; do not offend them. This is the kind of fire that I think that the coalition people are playing with to their detriment. These people are not local adversaries danced around and mocked and usually dismissed as toothless. The Americans, though fading, are still a formidable force to reckon with, and that is even without resorting to tough stuff. As an exhibit, I point to that World Bank application that is in a holding pattern, as if a measly US $5 million means so much. Well, it does to us, and that is the point being recorded through the most unmistakable signal.

Let me be clear: I have said repeatedly that Guyana’s troubles are local in origin and requires a local solution; and that the role of foreigners should be minimal. I have also shared my thinking that the foreigners have overreached and overstepped, which I am sure did not win me any friends. But I have long lost interest in gaining new ones from any quarter. I am not backing away from any of those positions. Having said all of this, the reality is that they were invited, they are here but, now in midstream, the Carter Center mission is found to be personae non grata. This sounds more like Caligula than Cicero, the more I think of it.

The coalition has said repeatedly that it has this thing in the bag and under lock and key. It must live up to the sanctity of its words and postures and welcome one and all. As much as I have difficulty with the role that the Head of the OAS Mission has arrogated onto himself, that barn door was already open, and the welcoming mat well utilized. For those exercises in national self-flagellation, I anoint the patriotic (so-called) Guyanese, who do not have what it takes to fight their own battles; like some drugstore cowboys, they are all hat and no cows.

But all of that is beating a dead horse late in the day. My position is that however this thing pans out, it is a bad time to manifest hostilities and accrue unnecessary enemies, who have what it takes to inflict substantial, if not mortal, damage to prospects, be they present or future. I think it is time that all Guyana face up to another truth that I have stated so many times before, that I should not be doing so again. It is this: the Americans, one way or another, whether by the book or by covert means, have had substantial influence on every election in this country. Every single one of them, with this one being no different. In fact, I would argue that, in view of the multiplicity of interests with emphasis on one in particular, the Americans have even more of an interest in things Guyana, and they will have their say and have their way. That is, determine a winner. All the poor dumb suckers in Guyana’s la la land who rail and rant about democracy better get real and understand that they are mere pawns fulfilling roles. They have had their stage, but they are insignificant actors in this backwater Grecian tragedy.

It is why I say for the last time to the coalition: do not push the Americans too far. The problem is that I believe that a Rubicon has been crossed, with no turning back now.

Yours truly,
GHK Lall

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No good can come from blocking Carter Center observer team return

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