Fix the problem, Stop fooling around

Aug 03, 2022 Letters

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Dear Editor,

I note in the media that the President and Vice President have taken offense at the descriptions of their recent trip to the United States.  I think both men protesteth too much, why the ruckus? Obviously, corns stepped on, nerves rubbed raw.  Also, some people got their goat, and much of the hysterics have to do the use of the word “summon” to the heights in Washington, D.C.

The first thing to table is that powerless nations like Guyana are pawns in the palms of the big powers. When riches grace, predators study.  They are not just companies and their captains, but statesmen.  Sphere of interest, balance of interest calculations, and mineral wealth considerations feature.  America and Canada have been so good to us that they welcomed hundreds of thousands of our best and brightest, leaving us with what we have today.  Like those hustling to DC.  Whatever the relationship, however positive and beneficial, it is not an equal or a fraternal one.  Look at history that others tout, and the evidence is there.  Look at our ruptured national polity, and check on who determined our destiny, time and again.

With that delivered, I discipline myself for more understanding of these two Guyanese leaders, only for brothers to kick the milk can down.  Summon is employed by those higher up to those lower down in unbalanced power relationships.  It is to demand, to command, and to beat the swiftest path to the door of those issuing the call.  It is routine in corporate quarters and, media niceties aside, is a real representation of what occurs when one nation is heavily indebted to another.  In Guyana’s instance it is not only money, but all that finely honed American muscle flexed on behalf of the PPP in 2020 that led to August 2 of that year.  There are some investments that are Faustian bargains, leave eternal debts.  With such debts due, then like Cosa Nostra loan sharks, there is no hiding from or delaying presence, no matter how ugly the sit-down promises to be.  Consider.

Subject to correction, in the two years that the PPP Government has been in office, there has not been a single instance when the President or Vice President was leading a delegation to a foreign locale, and it was not given the widest coverage way in advance.  Whether Africa, Latin America, or America, Guyanese were given advance notice that they were traveling.  It made for good PR, and plenty of self-congratulation on being the toast of the world.  Yet they were both going about the exciting routines of their domestic engagements, and then abruptly and jarringly, they were off to Washington, almost stealthily.  It was unannounced, uncharacteristic, and wholly unexpected for not one top leader, but both of them.

And in unholy hurry, too.  His Excellency was very visible at the Building Expo almost nightly, then he was gone in a flash.  Interesting also is the fact that the busy Secretary of State swiftly cleared his clogged calendar and made space for his distinguished Guyanese guests.  These things are months in the making.

I hope that Guyanese get my drift.  The Americans are mighty unhappy with the PPP Government.  Protests about leadership corruptions, claims of discriminations, and outrage over other social perversions in Guyana alarmed Washington that it acted swiftly.  The interests of Exxon could be troubled, so the Yanks moved preemptively.  Said differently, the message to President and Vice President was stop messing around, start moving on transparency and inclusion.  If protests, those underlying signals of social wrath over political rottenness and governance decays, are allowed to coalesce or gather momentum, then problems lool.  The point is that varied American interests in Guyana (not just Exxon) must not be stressed.  Frankly, America doesn’t care about some angry coloured people mixing it up; it cares about its own folks.  Hence, it was to Washington for both, with the Vice President attracting particularly keen (euphemism) attention, given his own well-known woes, and America’s money laundering concerns.

I understand the US$2B EXIM facility brings the U.S. into the local borrowing formula, and that the necessary smoothies about bilateral, the treasured nature of the relationship, and four members of the Congressional Black Caucus (two from Texas, Exxon’s HQ) cheerleading.  I urge fellow citizens to think of a domestic partner hauling (summoning) the other to court, only for matters taking a lovey-dovey turn when they emerge from behind those confines.  All is forgotten, all smiles.  Well, Guyanese just got a taste of that on the international stage.  Bottom line: Americans don’t like where the PPP Government is on very touchy issues, and they made sure that the President and Vice President knew where they stood.  Fix the problem.  Stop fooling around.

Sincerely,

GHK Lall

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