H@rd Truths By GHK Lall – The Vice President – the man behind the veil

Mar 26, 2023 Features / Columnists, News, The GHK Lall Column

Kaieteur News – It is said that Guyana’s Vice President is a one-man show. It is a sick show, with plentiful strains of national porno. Look at the state of this society’s democracy. I substitute my own words for those of economist Ramon Gaskin: kangaroo parliament, snake-filled boards, a money review committee (PAC) that can’t get out of the shower, or off the toilet seat. Nakedness all around. This is the craft of the Hon. Vice President, a supremely clever brother that some assess as super smart. I say cunning to the core, wizardry to the soul. I dissect my brother from his work product, his long years, the sum of his attitudes and attributes.

GHK Lall

Guyana’s Vice President is a man of deep mysteries, a figure of flourishing intrigues, a presence infested with essences of a certain kind. I cannot fathom his mind, but I can read his lips, interpret his results, detect the odors. The odors are all over; his words speak a language as slippery as a banana peel, layered as the scales of a snake, what has been foul for Guyanese.

Given his continuing long uninterrupted years at the peak of the local political and leadership pyramid, it is shocking that he fares so poorly in areas such as governance with what is clean, convincing, identifies with a trusted statesman’s character. This is the brother that dares to speak about trust. It should be noted that I write of the “continuing long uninterrupted years” as head of Guyana. It is not a slip.

For when consideration is lent to the VP’s relationships and dealings with some of former President Granger’s insiders, the VP possessed more reach than the former President himself. All covert, and unofficial, naturally; even Mr. Granger didn’t know the bargains made by some close lieutenants. Recall those early words in this paragraph: “flourishing intrigues” – the VP to a tee. Look at where and how he has Excellency Ali.

Plenty has been said of Guyana’s self-appointed Chief Minister of Oil, and to most matters involving money, personnel decisions, awards. More has been written about him, and that alone surpasses any repulsive horror show. Observe the Guyana Government as it stands today. Institutions. Actions. Inactions. Cast of characters. If anybody said corrupt, it would understatement of understatements.

When Guyanese, including supporters, quietly think so about the VP, imagine what is thought of him by outsiders, but left unsaid and unwritten. There are all those costly suspect projects, then that Asian fellow. The snout of the crocodile only. Think of man and the many tricky maneuvers that never see the sun; they could fill libraries, definitely diplomatic dispatches. There is the real Vice President. From my perspective, Guyana’s Vice President isn’t the stuff that fills political science books. Rather, the artful VP is of the case studies of unfinished textbooks focused on how secret societies operate. The crafty VP is the stuff of unwritten finance texts that deal with a peculiar kind of money management. And the all too wise VP would be of the psychological analyses that are kept classified, so enriching they are, so likely revealing.

Regarding the psychological, I am positive that the American CIA has done its duty and compiled its dossier for fascinating consumption up the ladder, held in reserve. The conclusions on our dearly, beloved VP flow like quicksilver freed from a thermometer: Stockholm Syndrome (an inferiority complex before Anglo-Saxons); persecution complex (a self-made hero); Machiavelli in the flesh (plots, outcomes); and a reputed human bank vault and real estate presence without equal. And a man that deals with attractions like how a drought-afflicted land would greet showers. The VP is the portrait of a one-dimensional man, one who is all about the self-serving, what is nation draining.

Notwithstanding all this, let no one go away with the wrong impression. I am a VP watcher. I understand that this makes him uneasy; despite the bluster, his outer shell is very touchy. I would, too, with the national secrets surfacing, plus other ones that will remain so for the time being. Guyanese who want to risk the peace, tranquility, and prosperity of this land can take him at face value; accept his every word as uttered, and his postures as picture perfect. I am content with being different.

Indeed, I have some kind spots for the VP, as an older brother should be, while looking out for one that is chronically on the reckless, unhearing, self-destructive side. Unlike other brothers, though, I must draw the line most times on some things. On these, the VP and I go our separate ways. He has done well. But with what, and for whom? Certainly not for the Guyanese people. Definitely not what is true to the Guyanese treasury?

The VP is more than a one-man show. He is an empire of one. The challenge and the skill are to evaluate what kind of empire it is. Like Nero was to Rome, this political practitioner, this leader, this brother is to the utter detriment and devastation of Guyana. A one-man wrecking, he is.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)