The golden age of garbage

Mar 27, 2021 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

I regret having to say it, but Guyana is experiencing its golden age of garbage. That is better described as presidential trash talking. As the days go by, the president gets better at it, with the sky his limit. Garbage time and trash talk, Guyanese are in for it.
The president has never come across a commercial that he doesn’t like, especially the ones in which he stars. He is a walking advertisement of the vacuous and the vacant. I hate to share this, too, but the head of state stands today as a stellar example of what an empty suit represents. There are all these canned expressions that are outstanding for their singular shallowness, their grand blandness. Here is a small sampling of his lip smacking, finger licking, and hair-raising verbal escapades: integrative approach, upward trajectory, greater heights. Good Lord! I believe that the president means well, except that he himself doesn’t know what he means; he just reads the scripts, and hopes that he doesn’t mispronounce or mumble; those are his priorities, not the welfare of Guyanese under his charge. The president confuses quantity with quality, saying plenty, while saying nothing. The fact that the president gets away with many wagons of such jargons reveals the acute delirium controlling the state of mind of Guyanese specifically and the state of Guyana generally.
This is the greatest show on earth: circuses (oil and gas), vaudeville performers (leaders), kneeling elephants in alligator shoes and business suits (sycophants) and dancing clowns (more hustlers). His Excellency is the star attraction: point man, front man, and showman. I stopped before (no) confidence man. He barrels uncaringly along towards that dangerous and tricky hairpin bend. Still, I think that the president fits the bill of someone who can be categorized as a good Guyanese. Please don’t ask me to define that, other than to point out that I refrained from going near to principled patriot, when the chance was presented. For those not satisfied with that, I provide a clue: examine the culture. Public service culture, borrowing culture, and moral and ethical culture. And as I am so far in, I throw in leadership culture. The president talks of transparency and accountability, his self-appointed national oil impresario (the VP) is speechless and cagey; on the unity promised, the president’s men get rid of racial and political personnel obstacles. The president is happy to depart after depositing those horse droppings.
The president and his people thrive on fanfare: new bridges, new roads, new loans; but same old thieves and cover-up artistes overseeing. They call some auditors and attorneys: garbage in, garbage out. Examine the content of the president’s speeches and there is nothing, but fluff and puff. He is cheerleader and snake oil and used car salesman all in one. He has many bridges to sell Guyanese; including that old one; plus, EU relations and American big business (the CIA is overjoyed). This is the sewage he showers on already soggy Guyanese.

Sincerely,
GHK Lall

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