I have great difficulty in differentiating between the PPP government and coalition opposition

Feb 04, 2021 Letters

Dear Editor,

A little while back, the Opposition Leader promised to dog the heels of the PPP government every step of the way, by being watchful and calling out and applying constant pressure. Specifically, the coalition chief committed to give the new government ‘hell.’ In view of what has unfolded with time, the best that I can say of the coalition’s head firewalker and fire-eater is that if what has occurred is his understanding and delivery of hell, then please reserve a place for me.

My learning is that hell is customarily associated with unbearable heats and endless torments. Whether such a place exists or not is irrelevant but the mere contemplation of its existence, and incinerating elements, are enough to bring pause, and realign me to a different cause, a more wholesome way of life. I thought that when the Opposition Leader employed that noun, a terrifying metaphor, that he was serious, and that it would compel his political audience across the aisle to straighten up and listen up, for fear of whatever he had in mind. The fact that his counterparts across the divide didn’t miss a step, or much as blinked in alarm, should have been the first warning indicator. They didn’t pay him no mind, and were contented to pat his head and smile knowingly. For he was all hot air, and in the bag, as circumstances have since confirmed repeatedly.

I tender this because, apparently, the hell that the Opposition Leader contemplated is radically different from the regular one. His hell is not of the dreads and agonies of Dante Alighieri’s fearsome circles. No! Guyana’s Opposition Leader’s hell is more like that of Persephone of Greek mythology. If remembered well, Hades (hell) in which she was forced to reside is a kinder, gentler one than that of medieval minds and numerous other eras and persuasions. My conclusion is that this is the type of hell that the Opposition Leader was thinking of, when he hurled what was construed by onlookers as a verbal thunderbolt at the government. It has been a dud of a squib, patently DOA.

As should be obvious from my repeatedly articulated public offerings, I have great difficulty in differentiating between the PPP government and coalition opposition. By this, I do not mean, the character and quality of the respective leadership and elected membership, that ugly norm is already accepted as a given. Rather, it is that the entanglements of the PPP and PNC-AFC (and all the rest) are so knotty and endless, that there is no separation between the groups as to visions and practices that are beneficial to all Guyanese. As examples, I offer the oil outlook and stewardship of both parties and it is the same story: secrecy, cover-up, silence. Next, I present dirty and smelly comrades, who are rewarded with and retained in sensitive and lucrative positions, which the good loyalists then leverage for sweet personal gain. This includes parliament, state boards, state land, state contracts, and state agencies; it is how public service is criminalized in this country. Then, regarding the exposures and pressures that ought to be brought to bear by any viable and self-respecting opposition, those are glaringly absent. It has been a continuous situation of one for all and all for one between these two politically conspiring and selectively collaborating groups. This is the thinking and position of more and more Guyanese, including sturdy coalition supporters. Many are embarrassed.

Thus, when any honest review of The Opposition Leader’s commitment to give the government ‘hell’ on what devastates Guyana, so that citizens can glimpse heaven, it has been fizzle and not sizzle. My unmoving belief is that the PPP and opposition leaderships have combined to make a bed that accommodates the ambitions and passions of both. In sum, we have an opposition that is not hellish but hoary (focus on the phonetics) in the ways of men who relish falling. If I were part of the senior PPP leadership, I would lean back, smirk, and congratulate myself. It is a job well done; the opposition is right where they are desired to be. It will stay there, and its hell is more than manageable, it is enjoyable to the PPP.

Yours truly,
GHK Lall

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