Essential ingredients of PPP governance

Mar 24, 2021 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

I trust that Guyanese are sitting up straight and taking notice of what has been happening in the last three calendar quarters. There are two developments which, in their resurgence, should emphasize what has been characteristic of previous PPP governments, and which have now returned with a vengeance. I think that they are harbingers of more of the same to come, which should alert first, and then severely agitate next.
The first development involves those large and now fairly frequent instances of cocaine shipments intercepted abroad. The fact that they are being seized overseas should give an indication of how tied down this country is where that kind of rich powdery business (and money laundering legitimised) is concerned. Also re-emphasized is how this kind of business bounces back so quickly and so strongly, since the PPP government took office. It is a testament to what its governance has always been about, with this time being even worse than before; there is much lost time to recover. This is just the beginning.
Second, I was greeted on Monday morning with media reports of that hail of bullets on Main Street, which had all the components of a well-orchestrated execution. I think that this, too, is an early sign of a return to the good old days of Drug Master Plans and a few ‘bad apples’ for cops and intelligence sharing with crime fighters and freedom fighters. We used to call them phantoms back then; I suggest pillars of democracy today. Whatever it is, the dark moneymen are back, and every day is an inauguration celebration for them. In view of what they brought about for governance, they are now well positioned and properly prepared to leverage unchecked.
Now, I have no option but to place this squarely where it belongs: an integral aspect of the dangerous governance culture fostered by the PPP. Its leaders and people may try, but they cannot duck responsibility for what is again manifesting its ugly head in this society. Most of the party’s people are in the positions of power; whether they are or not is moot, because they know what is going on, who is involved, and may be involved themselves. After all, the lure of sweet cash and fast cash has always proved irresistible in the past. This I suppose has to be accepted as part of the environments and underpinnings of democracy, the pretenses at clean governance, and the peculiar strains of runaway Guyanese capitalist entrepreneurship. As I present all this, I cannot help but wonder what my dear American and British and Canadian fellows are thinking, how they plan to respond; or, if they will do anything at all, since the PPP has virtual carte blanche to run rackets. The PPP also has the supporting machinery to wax well about law and order, the rule of law, and no one is above the law. That is, other than its own people, particularly the money people, and the muscle people.

Sincerely,
GHK Lall

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