How genuine were those new political presence

Aug 25, 2020 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,

I observe developments unfolding in the political arena at the individual level, and I ask myself a few probing, sobering questions. I think every Guyanese, regardless of political inclinations, should do the same. I take a few positions, arrive at fewer conclusions.
Those new presences and faces in the recent political wars of Guyana, how genuine were they? They spoke stirringly and sweetly about democracy and constitutional reform and patriotism and clean governance and pristine oil management, and I thought to myself that these people do not know what they talk of, they represent nothing, for they were too good to be true. I amend that slightly: they represented something: it was that which positioned them smartly and strategically to join the ranks of the self-serving Guyanese political plutocracy. I face it that old and new, with few exceptions, were about the callings of the plutocracy, the power and prestige that come from being a part of it, the money (and other magics) that make flourishing possible from being within its ranks. This is what being idealistic and patriotic means in this country, when the transparent layers of sweet talk are peeled away. Ironically, it is the only thing in this place that is of the transparent.
I read of some rising, and I inquire: how come? How so early? How so easily and willingly? How so unashamedly? To ask and answer, I share what quite a few watching, listening, and sensible citizens already know. Some from among the newer and younger and fresher were already working both sides of the street during the elections’ impasses and turmoil. In the business world it is called combining or merging; in the political here, it is known as coalescing. Men and women had already dedicated themselves to selling. That is, they had reached out to both the PPP and PNC to ascertain the level of hospitality for joining the ranks and being recognized later for the parts they played during the disputes. In sum, they were ready to sell then, and they did. Look at this closely and appreciate what was at work. During our crippling national traumas, some of the new faces were busy plotting and positioning for life after elections, in self-serving forward thinking of a rare scurrilous sort. While this country labored on life support, some of the new people were calculating, right beside the deathbed, the bequests coming their way for the dirty arrangements delivered. I am not concerned with personal failure before party; I am focused on the additional wretchedness heaped on those Guyanese voters, who believed and trusted, only to be sold down the drain.
I am forced to salute such patriots, who conspire with their consciences (if they ever had one) in conspiracies against the comrades and planks with which they had previously identified. Now the lights of truth and of what is authentic shine. Some of the sensible, the real ones, have packed their bags and faded away. I give them a hand. But there are those ones that remain to collect their silver in return for their exchanges. These are the people who will lead us to the promised land. I will take Syria or Libya.
In Guyana, there are no secrets, and part of the reason for that culture is that its sons and daughters speak from so many sides of their mouths. They leak deception. They drip with the devilish. What price ambition? What price can make them sell themselves so effortlessly? One of the things I harp about (yes, that) is character, the thorough lack of it during the times needed, in the places where it is most missing. Some think that I am off the reservation with this one, but there is the sum of evidence in the preponderance of its incontestable and infallible presence. Who stands for something here, anything? I would be surprised if there are not a few more being named for their work behind the scenes.
Look at it, Guyana’s elections-a long season of the sordid and sickening-began with suspected conspiracy and what was concluded to be palpable treachery. It started on December 21, 2018, with the no-confidence development. And nineteen torturous months later, it ended with emerging figures now looked upon as this country’s Cassius and Brutus. Regardless of how the numbers were and finally took shape, the PNC-led coalition would be justified in believing that the deck was stacked against it from the inception and that it did not have a ghost of a chance. For when I analyze matters and people, I come to this hard place: there were more willing sellers than ready buyers. And men sold themselves cheaply. One king of England was ready to relinquish his kingdom for a horse; in long ago Israel, one hungry sibling sold his birthright for a pot of stew. In Guyana, it is a new day, and same old story. New faces, but old goods.

Sincerely,
GHK Lall

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