Opposition – where is it?

Jun 15, 2024 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

---

Hard Truths by GHK Lall

Kaieteur News – There have been ongoing widespread laments about the presence of a viable political opposition in Guyana.  Even as it is painful to agree with such assessments, there is a still bigger issue that Guyanese could be forced to confront.  I present this in the form of a question: come next year, is this country going to have any political opposition at all?  One that is potent, a group that is palpable and represents something?  There are citizens thirsting for such meaningful representation, but what is present today seems to be disintegrating from the inside.  On each occasion that it appears to be getting its act together, preparing a program of action, it falls apart.  It is mesmerizing to observe, more troubling to absorb.

For the millionth time, Guyana needs a credible opposition.  Perhaps, the country itself doesn’t, but the Guyanese people urgently need one.  If not, the democracy that supposedly creeps along by yanks and yowls gets crushed.  There is the media.  Public institutions should be bulwarks of protection, of significant presence, but are more of perversity.  Political leadership perversities and tyrannies, that is.  Now, the judiciary is under fire.  And I passed something on the way (to which I have paid scant attention) involving NGOs.  A newspaper or two, a couple of writers and commentators or so, and the occasional fence sitter breaking ranks and having a say, are not going to make much of a difference in the bigger picture.  Together they should not be seen, do not have the muscle, nor the following, of a political opposition of substance.  There is no substitute for a formidable political opposition.  As meaningful as a broad-based and committed civil society presence could be, it still is far from what a sturdy opposition could and must exemplify.

Frankly, whenever trusting Guyanese believe that they have one, they end up questioning themselves about what it is they truly have.  The PNC is still trapped in the throes of 2020.  Now, there is the sense of some disenchantment with the group, growing disillusionment with the leadership.  The core is still heavily committed, for its members don’t have much choice, and when they look abroad, they are forced to run for cover.  The reception that is due to all citizens is strained and chilly, if not hostile, given the stain of their affiliation.  Hence, they are stuck with the devil that they know; it is the Hobson’s choice that they face.  As if disenchantment and disillusion are not undesired dunce caps, now there is dissension in the umbrella group about who could do what, and where the source of power really is.  In other words, at the worst time possible, there is a public spat that threatens to rent asunder what is a fragile coalition to begin with, one that is shakier by the day.  This is not good for Guyanese.  There is a distinctive one-party, one-man, dictatorship that is all but publicly declared.  Why contribute to making it official?  In some respects, it could be argued that whether the opposition, as currently constituted, holds together, or goes in different directions, it really doesn’t matter, so weak and uninspiring it has been, even to its most devoted.

Against this bleak backdrop-or probably because of it-there has been some talk about, much watching for, the arrival of some new political groups, a possible leadership challenger coming from over the horizon.  My vote is still in my sock, and that is where I stand.  But as the PPP is aware and other Guyanese, all it takes is two to three seats, and a showstopper and difference maker could be born.  But only if he or she holds fast to principles as stated in the public arena.  I do not think that the PPP is in danger of a winner riding into town.  But its leadership is petrified of what a three-seat lawmaker cum agitator aka slow walker and troublemaker could signify for its runaway train.  The PPP leadership may not be losing sleep over a potential usurper, but the thought is definitely causing the loss of hair and weight.  If the specter of three seats could be responsible for so much animosity from the ruling party’s baleful leadership, it follows that there is much that they could lose, including possibly their freedom and accumulations.

Speaking for myself, the participation of new faces in the local political milieu next year is not as comforting as it should be.  There is that small matter about credibility, what their real objectives are (more on this another time).  Of course, the first word will be the people and their interests.  Whoever falls for that line should be sent on a suicide mission.  So, with the current biggest opposition trying to find itself, where does that leave Guyanese?  There are three choices, by my thinking.  Stick to what they have known and supported, come what may.  Or catch the next flight out.  Or find some way to make themselves smell like roses to the people who say that they are the best.  There is still a fourth option: be like me and a few others, and spit in the faces of the political fiends and frauds that speak about democracy, free and fair, and constitutional rights.

---

• Assessments, Guyana, laments, opposition, political

---