Two hymns making the rounds

Mar 28, 2021 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

Guyanese are tricky folks, but are quick learners. This is true of both rank-and-file citizen, slick and believed sophisticated political headmen, and their high-level sycophants. The slickness prevalent everywhere is evidenced in two hymns that saturate environment and atmosphere; both convey how smart we are, or how much we think we are.
I note that, though Holy Week is pending, with Good Friday and Easter the high points, the two hymns have nothing to do with righteousness; rather, they furnish remarkable examples of the deviousness that is at work in this land, even in hallowed times.
The great majority of regular Guyanese – think small and other businesspeople, the private and public sectors, and from the man in the street to the cognoscenti (what passes for it) – have perfected the singing of a hymn that serves to fit all purposes, all events, and all situations. It goes like this: it is COVID, or is de pandemic, or from the simple of heart: is de virus. This is the plaster for every running sore and chronic shortcoming that be-devil this troubled land. It is used for lateness; the blanket to cover a world of illnesses; the reason for poor service, laziness, or incompetence; sometimes all of those; in some instances, for drunkenness and lawlessness. Thus far, I have not heard the COVID-19 virus employed as a shield for last year’s long interval of elections madness, any actual mental disconnect, a rationale for giving or demanding or accepting a bribe; or the on and off amnesia of ‘I do not recall’ when in a squeeze. Thank God for little blessings. But those are the lyrics set to the ethereal music about COVID, which is hymn number 19 in the Guyanese songbook.
The second hymn comes from the political people in government, which stretches from the president over to the entire cabinet of ministers (let’s call them that), and then rippling outwards to senior officers in state agencies. No question has to be asked, no answers sought, but PPP leaders, PPP ministers, and PPP political appointees are all lined up in one pew and singing lustily from the same songbook with one voice. Whatever the circumstances, regardless of the trouble (large or small), and however more foolishness they may look and sound, the words from those political quarters are full and final: is de coalition. Is dem teef. Is dem responsible!
It is a fact that the now opposition would need many enormous dumpsites to house the sum of its great misdeeds. But, I say that not everything could be rightly placed at its doorstep. Whatever happened to truth? And the Hon. Ministers of Education, Housing, and Public Works, ostensibly pious citizens all? They cannot pretend to be Pontius Pilate and not know truth. Thus, I identify flooding, sugar, and money laundering as the first examples. Guyanese know those and others were part of the PPP failed legacies during its 23-year rampage and pillage. Sing another song, folks; a truly holy one.

Sincerely,
GHK Lall

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