H@RD TRUTHS BY GHK LALL – Of cut brake lines and baseball bats

Dec 02, 2023 Features / Columnists, News, The GHK Lall Column

Kaieteur News – I don’t know Mr. Bryan Max, never heard of him before; I am content to let matters rest there. It is likely that Mr. Max would say likewise. Though what allegedly happened to him may appear to be extraordinary, it reflects the rather ordinary in how the PPP deals with dissension, objection, and condemnation. What could be revealing is how commonplace the response of the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana courts to the experience of Mr. Max.

GHK LALL

For sure, Mr. Max has a peculiar manner in how he approaches issues, what drives him to vent publicly. Let this be said immediately: his style of expression is on the far side from where I stand. From a first video that introduced Mr. Max to me, I gathered that there was considerable energy, definitely significant passions, welling up from deep inside. The language could be rated X. I think I will stick to the vocabulary that has served me and this country well. What is obvious is that Mr. Max now travels down a certain road. He couldn’t turn back, and some people decided to do something, so that he couldn’t stop from driving into danger, as the man’s second video in circulation attested. There was the distinct impression that convictions were so strong that there was swearing to them. Names were called, situations recalled, and something had to be done to deal with the gall of the man. Some may have found him offensive; others found ways to register how offended they were. The first weapon unleashed took the form of a libel suit, with several million blows promised, should it succeed. The next weapons unleashed are reported to be baseball bats, with the trail narrowing to three.

Whether PPPC or AC-DC sluggers are still up for grabs is not my business. Justice should be served, and given every appearance of it being served. But what should ring a clanging bell with a huge number of Guyanese, including PPP supporters, is how this government of law and order has its people, who deliver their own versions of what is law, who is lawless, and who should be put in order. I wasn’t here at the time, but thanks to the technology I recall reading about a Guyanese held as the epitome of greatness by many citizens, Mr. C.N. Sharma, who was set right for speaking too much, and speaking too roughly. Memory is vague, but it wasn’t a baseball bat that was employed on that occasion, but a backhanded stroke that assaulted his right to speak, that violated his freedom to call things as they are.

A list of Guyanese found objectionable have been subjected to the same fate, through the use of different battering rams in the hands of PPP goons and criminals. I could testify to that, with some in open media, and others hiding behind the skirts of social media, while covering their faces with dirty and skimpy underwear with the brand name of Live in Guyana. I call them criminals; whether in the Office of the President, the Office of the Prime Minister, or the Office of the Vice President, offices held by men of the highest virtue, let us not forget. I call the culprits criminals whether in the cabinet, or the kitchen cabinet of their political sponsors, instigators, and heroes. I call these criminals brothers, because as all Guyanese should know there are those in all families, even the best ones. Instead of baseball bats, these PPP henchmen (there is the flower of Guyanese womanhood also enmeshed, I understand), hide behind keyholes and use keyboards. Calls had been made before to maximize the use of social media to overpower those standing in the way. My position is as ordinary as they come: spit on a man, and be ready to drown him.

Returning to Mr. Max, his situation is part of a long and storied trend; one hell of a dirty story it is. Even women have not been spared by the PPP Palace Guard (Live in Guyana again). It should be part of Guy Expos, and I would recommend for COP 28, given the Live in Guyana group’s efforts at climate change in the local environment. Political climate change, that is. In the midst of these lawless developments, the Hon Attorney General, who is usually bristling with the magma of volubility, has been remarkably silent. The ideals of his portfolio, and what he says he stands for, have been attacked and desecrated at will, and all he is capable of doing is bottling up his challenges. Since the Attorney General is unable, unready to say it, I help him: Guyana is a nation of men and not laws.

When laws only apply to some men, what law, esteemed AG? Mr. Max may be interested in his answer on behalf of the PPP Government and its agents. The press women made an example of in the most scurrilous manner that could be imagined by the PPP brain trust may have hope. As for me, I have something for the AG, HE, and the VP, and it is a handshake. It is of European vintage, and doesn’t use all fingers.

(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.)