Guyana’s two-headed presidency

Nov 02, 2021 Letters

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Dear Editor,

I knew that a national embarrassment waited. This was the result of the slick work of a political card that gave Guyana a two-headed presidency. Every time it raises its head, Guyana is a bigger global laughing stock.
This was conspicuous at the United Nations. There was the President and Vice President of this poor little nation sitting together, and global political contemporaries wondering why both of them. It was virtually unprecedented in international forums, prompting the foreigners to ask themselves who was the real Number 1 at the UN, and who was minding the store in Guyana. Since the VP is overseer for oil, he should have enough on his hands pursuing the best deals (not side ones) for this country, which removes him from being presidential chaperone.
It was a spectacle, this two-headed presidential apparition, a wrestling tag team on the world’s stage pretending at genuine engagement. Candidly, given the obvious unsteadiness of Guyana’s head of state, it was babysitting and handholding. Still, I wished that such would occur away from international stares. The people at the UN must have pinched themselves: is this for real? Is this how Guyanese manage themselves and their oil wealth?
Clearly, Guyana’s presidency is not a nursery affair, but a gruelling undertaking; the president is not ready. Not even PPP mythmakers can gloss over the pictures of the two-headed hydra that confirms what Guyana’s presidency is; I thank God that it is not Cerberus, three heads and all. Party admirers are appalled, the ambitious AG smug, and VP worshippers dismayed, because his presidential creation flays him. I am embarrassed at this national peculiarity that humiliates Guyana, given a president forced beyond his competency level. Disasters result. Ribbon cutting, sod shoveling, and flying visits to dole out charity only camouflage his deficits so far. I had warned: the man lacks the right stuff.
For upset PPP defenders, I say: don’t worry about me. Think of the assembled dignitaries at the UN, when they beheld our out-of-his-depth president pleading for help from the shrinking VP, who was too embarrassed to run to the rescue. He created the monster, he must cage it. How often will the president reach for Vice Presidential counselling? How frequently, is he going to put regional and international leaders on hold, so that he can get whispered corrections/interpretations from the VP? This does not accrue to the dignity of the office of Guyana’s presidency. Worse still, all Guyana is degraded by this tangled presidential tango. One misleads about transparency, knowing full well the other’s love affair with secrecy.
Though I should be disparaging of the VP’s plights, I am sympathetic to the hole that he dug for himself, and into which the limited president plunges. The VP must bail him out. When Guyana’s President and Vice President engage in this pas de deux, they may not be humiliated, but Guyana is. If and when oil (when is it not, nowadays?) is the issue, then the VP has his own domain, atmospherics, and acolytes, which is where those wheeling and dealings (negotiations) should occur. When oil is the topic of engagement, the VP is quite capable of going off on his own, concentrate on that all-important portfolio. He must do so without worrying if the President will hold or fold.
Let the President stand – deliver or fall; he coveted the job, knowing struggles loomed; he either thrives or dives. But let this hanging on to the VP’s coattails cease, while the VP himself must let go. This business of allocating work to him must terminate. This-two-headed presidency is not good for Guyana’s image, makes us frail, subject to exploitation. Though neither national leader would listen, this is why we should have veteran and competent senior public servants. Flunkies and party loyalists lack the tools to help the president, and no amount of propaganda spray painting can gloss over satisfactorily.
The UN is over there, but CARICOM is right here, where the second instance of Guyana’s Janus-headed leadership was part of recent proceedings. CARICOM people had to have wondered: what the hell is this abomination, where it came from, who is responsible, and how much longer they have to deal with this. They have to figure how to interpret and communicate with Guyana’s two presidential heads going off simultaneously. To his credit, the VP tries hard not to get in the way, unless business is involved. But he has to do damage control. Regional heads of government are from here, they live near us, with us. There is no hiding this Guyanese leadership curiosity, of conjoined Siamese political twins.
How long this charade is going to go on is anybody’s guess. The VP and DPI can’t block international media presences from observing the circus that is Guyana’s presidency. Why is it that Guyanese have a leader that lives the Peter Principle in national affairs before international audiences, and we must go along with it? We know the answers to those questions, don’t we? And here I am thinking that Joe Biden is bad.

Sincerely,
GHK Lall

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