The President toys, knowingly or unknowingly, with reality

May 09, 2022 Letters

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Dear Editor,
It never ceases to amaze what Guyana’s President is comfortable putting before Guyanese, in the belief that he will get away with his almost constant practice. He pulls any rabbit from any hat, to pull fast ones on Guyanese. This is what he did on World Press Freedom Day before assembled locals and foreigners.
Guyana’s leader made the bold statement to Guyanese that they will not be spied upon, as carried under two media captions: “Gov’t has no intention of spying upon journalists”, SN May 4; and “PPPC will not spy on the population -President Ali assures” -KN May 4. I regret to say publicly that I totally disbelieve, not reassured at all. It falls flat because he toys, knowingly or unknowingly, with reality, the truths with which Guyanese live. Spying is seen as a necessary evil because of the intense anxieties that agitate his party and government.
In kindness not due, I give the President this: though I don’t regard him well, the people near him possess certain telling streaks. They are dirty tricksters, and would do anything to achieve their ends. If this means spying upon Guyanese to intimidate them, to get the goods (largely imaginary) on them, or to set them up, then spying will be done using any method, any means. Not just electronically, but through employing scarce state human resource assets. We recognise them; I call them out. It is this jarring reality that contradicts the President’s words on World Press Freedom Day. His party has its Praetorian Guard, his government its goons. They spy in person; they spy using others. Some Guyanese can attest to such circumstances, live with such snooping. It is neither skilled nor covert, as believed.
Guyanese appreciate the great insecurities of ruling party and government leaders due to their acute need and insistence for total control, sharp alarms over dissents. None must object or project contrarily, notwithstanding rights. They must be brought to heel, and spying on them facilitates. There is fear over what people say, write, present publicly, think. The President knows that, and I remind him before Guyana that he knows, which is why he is silent when wrongdoings are heaped upon loyal citizens. Thus, his newfound sincerity rings hollow, exposes another hypocrisy.
It should be reassuring when the President says “This government has no intention whatsoever, it is not even contemplated in my mind to move in any direction to have any spyware or ‘whyware’ or anything to spy on anyone. I have not even imagined something like that so take it out. It will never happen, at least under this government. It will never happen!” It is happening, sir. People live with what the President distances from; the man protesteth too much.
What the President assured his audience doesn’t inspire trust. He has made equally bold assertions; yet profanities and perversities multiply under his watch. His government is intrusive, desires to know what perceived enemies think, say, and do; yet he comes across with these platitudes that fool none. Not I, master. I have difficulty associating what the President says, what he promises, what he claims to stand for, with what actually is the stealthy reality of this society. Leaders in the PPP Government will leave no stone unturned to get to what makes them nervous, do any dirty deed to go after those they decide are sworn enemies. Many live in fear, are afraid to call out him and his government.
The President should familiarise himself with the secret toils, brutish works, of his undercover henchmen. Orin Boston is dead, disparages his claim about spying, for what was the source of the intelligence that sent them to Dartmouth? Why is the work of some media sections interfered with using sophisticated tools? How come some who pose no threat to country are singled out for special attention? What do all the President’s men know, and by what means they do? Spying is a practice of many governments, but only against subversives, not the law abiding.
So why, Mr. President? Because when the President chatters as he did, the first thought is that it reeks of disingenuousness. Still, he must refrain from these spoofs of truth that conceal local reality, these verbal cartoons that mock him. I congratulate the President for pushing what he thinks sounds appealing, except that it is more of the theatre of the grotesque, what transforms absurdity into atrocity. I cheer the leader for trying. I pity the President for denying reality, pressing for Guyanese to see the PPP Government and its actors in the most benevolent light, as the purest of presences. They are not.
For members of the media to see it timely to table the issue of Spyware, and possible usage, or if the PPP Government has any relationship with this same Spyware is neither innocent nor random, but speckled with considerations (perhaps conclusions) of what could already be. It represents genuine concerns that there are no limits to which a government obsessed with total control will not go, what it will not breach. I so stand. That it does spy.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall

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