H@rd Truths By GHK Lall – The Opposition Leader, whither thou, brother

Apr 23, 2023 Features / Columnists, News, The GHK Lall Column

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Kaieteur News – Though there may be bracing, I come only with kind words.  Guyana would be better for it, and that is all that matters to me.  Before Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton, I present, I inquire via this tiniest of snippets: whither thou, my brother?  I ask not for myself, I ask for all Guyana.

An Opposition may be a nuisance, a hindrance, or a nice to have for the record.  But then any of that, or all of those put together, would miss by many a mile what an Opposition represents in the configuration of government, as a contributory agency in the strands of comprehensive and responsible governance.  An Opposition that is vibrant compels a responsive government, and it all starts from the head, continues with the tramp of feet, and is powered by the voice of the Leader of the Opposition.  This is the great mantle that rests rather uneasily on the crown of Mr. Aubrey Norton, and one with which he must live up to, through storm and sun.  I regret to report that Mr. Norton has not delivered as anticipated…in the eyes of many in his own fold, in the minds of Guyanese, in both my eye and mind.

It is not of feet rushing into the face to make matters right.  There are different ways to get that same significant point across, without so much as batting an eyelash.  It is not of raised voice and upraised fist to wrench what is believed to be rightly due.  It is more than what is believed, beyond the limits of perception: it is of what is actually occurring in Guyana.  It is the height of irony that Guyana has never perched so high, never in its fatigued history so rippling with the muscular, yet so meager in its expectations.

On Mr. Norton’s head, I place those burdens that he has not borne so well.  The meagerness of expectations, the disillusionment intensifying, are his to address.  I regret that he has not risen to the occasion, fulfilled the cluster of promises haloed around him at the beginning.  For its own purposes, the PPP Government and leadership may be stonily against engagement of any kind; it is the tough duty of Mr. Norton to scale that fence, as barbed and electrified as it is.  He has to locate the leverage, he has to use what he has in his grasp, to eke out a few steps for a respected place on the ladder for himself and his following.

Mr. Norton raised his hand for this job of Opposition Leader, so he must now deliver.  Politics is an art, as he knows well; he should know also how easy it is to become a statistic.  One representing the ‘also rans’, of what could have been, of what never really did get off the ground.  I think that Mr. Norton can do better, stand stronger, and move upward toward what is smarter.  Not smarter in terms of what is foxy and crafty, but of what is mentally expansive, what is innovative, what could be productive.

There is oil, and there has been nothing.  Nothing that can be categorized as pulse-pounding and impressive on that score from the Opposition Leader.  The foreigners have their bag of tricks to hem in and tie up people like himself.  Mr. Norton has to have his own bag, and its brand speaks to the world: what is good for the Guyanese people.  Let others-local or foreign-try with their tricks, for those are what then provide their own inspirations, about what should be and what should not.

I think he has to muster his people and squeeze on the arm of the PPP Government, but only on an orderly and disciplined basis.  If some can be marshaled for Local Government Elections nomination, and national elections petition, then that has to be regrouped and the rules of engagement rewritten.  To register the traumas, the plights, and the perils of the Guyanese people, with every avenue chosen carefully, and properly mapped.  There are different ways to send signals to the resident foreign contingent, and to those keenly watching developments in Guyana from afar.

There are discontented citizens here, and by the droves, and of this, there must never be any doubt, any misunderstanding.  Platitudes cannot pay the piper.  The people are waiting, and their outstretched hands are empty.  The PPP leadership in government knows this.  But there is none who must know this more than Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton.  The expectations of his people are the chains of evidence.  There are others.  Some have said that Mr. Norton has flattered to deceive.  I think he has fluttered in the trials and challenges that matter, and his star has faded.  This his own, and the rest of Guyana, cannot afford.

There is the fullest appreciation that the oil wealth has to be walked around gingerly.  After all, the American Ambassador is always on duty, ever watching, never less than absorbing every nuance of speech and posture.  Somebody has got to pound on the table, and Mr. Norton did nominate himself.  Whither thou now, my brother?

(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.)

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• GHK Lall, Government, H@rd Truths, Leader, opposition

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