Be on guard, watch back

Nov 04, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,

I hear we have democracy in Guyana. Frequently, I pause and chew on that piety, and I confess to difficulty swallowing. I would love to, but there are these impediments, which I share.

I went to a funeral by the National Assembly the other day, and a complete stranger called me by name, and informed, ‘we have your back.’ He added that ‘the guys are vicious.’ I nodded -like leaders, like supporters. I had just emerged from a house of worship, so I pointed to the heights, still hearing the echoes of Ecclesiasticus, “there is time for living, and there is a time for…” I am ready for either. Full stop. So those who wish to do so can proceed with their manoeuvres, like they tried before when they tried devilishly hard to kill a reputation using technology. I am still where I am and who I am. The journey continues, and it is a perilous one in this PPP democracy country, admittedly. I may reach for the Guardians of Democracy, for I know some of them. Not for a protective hand, but to inquire if this is the democracy that they stood for so sturdily.

Editor, since we have democracy, and its sacred ideals, then why should any Guyanese need to watch their back or anyone thinks so, or that they have to watch out for them? Maybe the warning brother is feeling his way, imagining tests, exaggerating menaces. But what if he is on the right track? What if there are pent-up furies that fuel the raging wraths of PPP Government goons and Palace Guard that their messages that all is clean and true (as they say) must not be challenged nor tampered with by anyone on any occasion for any reason? Including reasons that are founded on truth, commonsense, the environment, the record, and what can’t be denied, or covered up, no matter how well-camouflaged, or spun. What then? If the stranger, a fellow Guyanese by the sound of him, is on good ground, then whatever comes to fruition (or Final Solution), I am putting this on the heads of the President and Vice President. I spare the Attorney General for now, despite his name being mentioned by some parents who are hurting.

Both senior leaders have manifested attributes that leave respect for law in a state of conflict first, then suspension next. Some questions are answered, many left untouched. But when both the President and Vice President have been strident in silencing, in the most abusive manner possible, those who stood before them and asked straight questions, then a standard is set. Praetorian Guardsmen feel that when they do a dirty need, regardless of how heinous, they have executed a favour for leaders, whether they know or not, gave a nod or not. Leaders would be pleased because a thorn is no more. Again, I point to Archbishop Beckett and his Cathedral encounter. Some things can be controlled; some are outside that sphere. What has to be will be. That is the end of the story.

I am perplexed that any government could lack the self-confidence, could be so wounded for conviction, that one man or one writing or one position could cause its leaders and its henchmen so much anxiety, so many agitations. Must be some substance there. With so many voices and so many pens already in action on behalf of the PPP Government, it is revealing that this same PPP Government and its rabid insiders are so insecure that any single voice in the Guyana wilderness can be the source of so much turbulence. We all know that all is not well (far, very far, from it) on the score of governance under the PPP, yet there is this Stalinist insistence, demand that all rise and bow to absolute perfection. My position is simple: be gone! Get lost! If that falls short of doing the job, then there is that four-letter word followed by one with three.

Editor, the road traveled is too far along, and the thought of turning back has never crossed. There! I am sending my own subliminal message. Also, the political, racial, and social environments are too riddled with decays, hatreds, malfeasances, and the maledictions that come from them. I just have to keep going, for I believe that what comes out is more than humble public service. It is work above and beyond me. I am only the messenger. Que sera, sera. One more thing: to that caring and conscientious Guyanese citizen: thanks, my brother.

Sincerely,

GHK Lall

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