Ambassador and transparency

Jul 10, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,

I have a problem. More accurately, Guyana’s President Ali, has a problem. President Ali says that he and his government have been exemplary in transparency. I can chuckle, but the people in the hinterlands seeking the disclosure of mining agreement(s) are still waiting; fishing review, oil studies suffer similarly. I regret to remind our dear President that lack of transparency on vital matters is the norm. He bluffs.

What mystifies is how the President conjures these mental contortions to deliver the resulting verbal distortions to the Guyanese people. It is unfortunate also that our wise President resorts to condemning conscientious citizens who call him out for his lack of transparency, as nothing but ‘naysayers’ and ‘detractors’ and doomsayers. Now he has a problem bigger than a few local deviators from his script, and I wonder what he is going to label his latest messenger and the message that was delivered (again) recently.

The messenger is U.S. Ambassador to Guyana, Ms. Sarah Ann Lynch, and this was what she said on the occasion of the Independence of the United States of America: “Going forward, we will continue to partner with you on inclusive democracy, economic development, and citizen security for all Guyanese, and to promote the public values of transparency, diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility – values that inform policies reflecting good governance and a participatory democracy where all voices are heard,…”

There it was again, that bugbear, that embarrassment, that ‘pimpla’ for the President, called “transparency.” I urge focus on the verb immediately before transparency, which is “promote.” That is, to push, to work for, to devote energies, and more. To mention transparency (and inclusion) at such a glittering moment was not accidental, a filler, a figure of speech, but what was subtle and deliberate, and with all the graceful tactfulness of nuanced diplomatic flourish. It was for emphasis, because transparency is what the resident Americans have mentioned, pinpointed, and called for before. They keep insisting by persisting in mentioning, even on a solemn but relaxed occasion, like an official reception at her official residence. Like I say, not random. I say, too, that the Americans keep pressing it because it is missing. So, what the President says about his Government and transparency is joke, pretense, game, sham, mistake, and monstrosity. I will not insult His Excellency by saying it is a lie. Distortion and exaggeration, yes; lie, that destroys leaders.

I say that Ambassador Lynch chose her setting well. I extend congratulations on her timing, sense of the moment. For among her uneasy listeners were President, Prime Minister, and Vice President. And still, she saw fit to crown her verbal banquet table once more (again) with this thorn about transparency, and that also inclusion, left untouched today. Against the backdrop of recent scorching revelations, the Ambassador’s message is given teeth and legs. Less transparency means large corruptions, including devastating laundering. And it means leadership vulnerabilities and addictions exposed, with foreigners confirming what all know.

As I translate Her Excellency, the bottom line is insistent: transparency is not here. Transparency is anemic. Transparency is comatose. Diplomats don’t speak out of turn, or waste words, or make this kind of verbal slip, certainly not American ones. They are not Guyanese parliamentarians. These Americans and Britishers know transparency, they recognize bull, especially presidential kinds. What was said is this: deceiver. I wish that things didn’t have to come to this. But it was the President himself in his own words and on his own initiative who promised, who committed to, who dedicated himself to being about three things in his inaugural address almost two years ago. I remind him and my fellows: they were unity, accountability, and transparency. What he saw fit to market in a fit of recklessness has now returned to give him a fit. It is a chronic condition.

Now, everything is on the table, the gloves are off. The President has slandered conscientious Guyanese with all manner of derogatory names. I wonder what ones he has reserved for Her Excellency, the Ambassador of the United States of America to Guyana.

Sincerely,
GHK Lall

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