H@RD TRUTHS BY GHK LALL – Live in Guyana is now Live in Parliament

Jan 28, 2024 Features / Columnists, News, The GHK Lall Column

Kaieteur News – Almost every Guyanese is claiming openmouthed surprise, shock even, on developments in the pristine precincts of parliament. Not I. How can I, how can any citizen of this country with a little decency and standard left in them, expect better? When the ugly foundation and grotesque architecture are made stronger daily, then to be surprised, amounts to more than missing the signals. It is looking the other way, pretending at ignorance, maybe even slyly working to give comrades a pass. Country and Western legend-a Black one-of all callings-Charley Pride came close: When snakes crawl at night.’ Those are our comrades, the many fellow citizens, with whom we must coexist.

GHK Lall

Get this straight: I have no comrades, wish for none. Upstairs is good enough. But there is parliament in Guyana. Live in Guyana is now Live in Parliament. It was just a matter of time. Get this also: I like heckling people; it was part of the culture from early school days, what was called ‘tantalize.’ Give it and take it. Give as good as received, and always try to outdo the other man. But never beyond the point of no return. Hard and sharp and unsparing the tantalizing could be. But there were limits, some places to which there was never the thought or impulse to venture in the haste to get even. There were some elements that were never present, no matter the drive to hit first and hit heavily. Not the malice of today. Not the venom so loved nowadays. Not the vehemence and vituperation, and incomparable vulgarity, that are all now an integral and inseparable feature of local political exchanges. It is not just about stabbing in the back, but ensuring that the knife is coated with the poisonous. To this, Guyanese thrill, with the PPP Government leading the way, and the Opposition no slouch at the dirty games, either. I share a conviction with fellow Guyanese. Why is there the madness and recklessness and obscene discourteousness on local roads, if not drivers, passengers, and other users, doing their best imitation of leaders, high political leaders?

How can there be any element of surprise at what has become part of the standing orders of parliament? The boorishness, the brutishness, the loutishness, the swinishness, the doggishness, the spitefulness, and the acute, and now incurable, sickness at many levels. The children absorb, file away, then act: they have precedents. I dare to say something else also: the children discover role models. Who can knack first, and who can kick lower (anatomy). Sounds like ‘gangsta glama’ to me, and they learned it from parliament and leaders. This is their education, and they got it from the best practitioners. I advance deeper.

When there is encouragement, incitement and instigation, to weaponise social media platforms to crush opponents, then the rawness of conduct in parliament is simply an extension of that mob mentality and mayhem. This is the law of intended consequences, the symbol of Guyana’s civilisation in its Golden Age of Oil. I can imagine the arriving foreigners: who are these people? I push to the limit: who are these creatures (think of the ‘a’ word), as muttered under their breath, and with a smoothly smiling face?

Parliament has crumpled to this idea: stick it to the other guy (or gal). Stick it deep, and twist it savagely. Because mentalities and make-ups are perverted, then the sexual transforms into the cherished bludgeon. Because vocabularies are also so limited, then the anatomy is the only bullseye known, taken aimed at to bring down. By any means. By any method. By any agent. By any price that has to be paid. I am thinking in my usual naïve (even stupid way) that if only that such instincts are for what is clean and wholesome, constructive and progressive, noble and uplifting, then what a country Guyana could be. What a reputation Guyanese could claim.

Parliament has to be a leading pacesetter in standards. After all, it is the maker of laws to guide nation and citizens. Then the makers of laws have to be the first guides, the best ones. There is awareness that brawls have erupted in foreign parliaments, and even in the United States. Senator Charles Sumner was caned to within an inch of his life, and this in the Senate Chamber itself. I fear we draw closer and closer to such a day. Consider this: political mudslinging is parent and child of politics, and the US has had its share. What is distinguishing in the thrusts and parries is how the English Language is skillfully engineered to get the most momentum, and longest mileage.

From the UK, “he is a man suffering from petrified adolescence” (Aneurin Bevan on Winston Churchill). From the US, “he is ignorant, passionate, hypocritical, corrupt and easily swayed by the basest men who surround him” (Henrry Clay on Andrew Jackson). Presidents and Prime Minister sacked and scorched. And going way back to the time of the Greeks, “You have all the characteristic of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner” (Aristophanes). Now somebody tell me, help me, please. Is this not what we have for political figures, some people in parliament? Right here is our own Guyana?

(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.)