H@rd Truths By GHK Lall – The Few, The Proud, The True

Jun 30, 2023 Features / Columnists, News, The GHK Lall Column

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Kaieteur News – I have given up on B. Jagdeo, Guyana’s oil strongman, and doing anything that would be of value for Guyanese.  This extraordinary lover of what Guyana makes possible, now gone to the dogs. I still harbour some hope for His Excellency Ali, but detect that circumstances have locked him into a tight corner.

I thought that the PNC opposition would have been a rousing, resonant presence, especially as such relates to our patrimony and governance malfeasances, and I came up short again. It is not easy on the psyche to strikeout three times on such high-octane matters. It is a barren wilderness, this nation is, when passionate and patriotic persons are in demand.  Amidst all this, I cast my eyes over to Exxon land, and there is Grand Duke Alistair Routledge grinning over his bowl of milk and honey.

He has many reasons to, some of which have to do with the state of governors and stewards in Guyana.  It is a dismal state, and much of which Exxon has contributed to its enduring benefit.  It is where men can’t speak, most refuse to think, and leaders have lost themselves in a vortex of what is vicious to Guyanese interests.

Who to turn to in this hour of national leadership paltriness?  Who is there that could offer a glimmer of something different from what we have seen, and what we encounter, live with daily, in this political, leadership, and governance wasteland? I have sketched on a drawing board, quite a few profiles of political people actually, of whom all are sure to startle many Guyanese for the sheer audacity, even explosiveness, of my hopeful visions, expectations, invitations.

I look at the PPP side of the aisle and I see a couple of counsels, and doctor of this and the other.  Yes, though they are all educated, it calls for a lot to overlook how they have allowed themselves to be tangled in the troubled web of a cult leader.  But surely, there has to be some, at least a little handful of principled citizens in the PPP, who look at what is going on in the harsh Guyana landscape, and recoil in horror.  No, it is not PNC generated.  Rather, the many horrors and obscenities originate with their very own in the PPP.

I confess upfront that the degree of fulsomeness and wholesomeness about what two PPP brothers are, and what one sister represents; but there are no others.  One is old in the game, the others are new, but they all know what is going on.  I should name names.  Somehow, I believe that they possess some level of mentality, some character quality, some patriotic fervor to be disturbed about how the nation’s patrimony has been manhandled, the results of which has mangled their fellow Guyanese, especially poor ones longing. Even better, one claims high class heritage, two others have PPP pedigree, plus one has religious reach.

I believe that there could be sufficient agitations in the spirit of each one that supersedes previously overpowering considerations about a post, a contract, a presence, and a handshake from the despotic and neurotic in their group.  Some PPP insiders should be on the straight and narrow, but like Mae West, straying occurred.  I look at the PPP and the PNC, and assert that there cannot be such myopia, so much amnesia, and such overwhelming paranoia that all the lawyering and doctoring obtained bars insights about rank injustices.  I think that doctors have had some training about care and concern (outside of money and power) infused in schools of higher learning. And for the moral and ethical energizing towards hard denunciations about the nonsense that must stop.  It would be the cosmos of dharma and karma to make tough calls, callout comrades who err egregiously, stand for principle and people.  Surely, all the men and women in the PPP and PNC can’t be so preoccupied with what is good for themselves only, while there are multitudes of Guyanese with so many griefs and grievances.  Particularly when so many riches belong to us.

Across the benches in the PNC, there must be one or two who is a standard-bearer and warrior for the Guyanese people.  Stand for something.  Be somebody.  Be about what is for the people of this country, including Indian, Amerindian, African, and others trapped around the demographic median. Speaking softly and soft-pedaling and slow walking must all come to a complete stop. Go the other way: get in people’s faces. Don’t get carried away with all this correctness; it is more form than substance, and most unhelpful. Operating from the inside of air-conditioned confines, and behind tinted vehicles, doesn’t get any boots on the ground, or anyone off the ground.

Feet must meet the street so that political deadbeats feel the heat. We have oil now; at least let that grease the skids for concerted objection, and not just palms that go into pockets (or bank). Who is angry in the PPP has to stand up? Who is so disgusted in the PNC must be willing to be counted?

(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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• Ali, GHK Lall, H@rd Truths, His Excellency, strongman

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