The cup of forbearance had been exhausted

Aug 25, 2024 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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Kaieteur News – Think again, fellow citizens.  “The cup of forbearance had been exhausted…”  It was not US President James Polk’s message to Congress calling for a declaration of war using the questionable claim of Mexican arms raised against American troops on the US side of the Rio Grande.  No! the cup of forbearance had been exhausted right here in Guyana.  PPP Government supporters have had it up to their windpipes with swindles, rogueries, high seas and overland robberies, plus an endless assortment of other corrupt practices by their own people’s hand.  Top dogs in the PPP like to growl about PNC corruption, this time the only crooks, conmen, and cradle thieves are of PPP heritage, with a big brand across their foreheads marked HUSTLER.

The two biggest men in the PPP Government, Excellency Ali and Vice President Jagdeo are usually overflowing with their special brand of truth and love.  I have a question for them: please step forward into the public arena and identify a small handful of clean ministers.  A handful I shall make so small that it only has room for two or three ministers in the PPP Government.  There would be willingness to go on a sabbatical with corruption writings should those names be supplied and the backing for how they got what they own.  While I wait, this point is made for the edification of all Guyanese, nothing is said, or so much as hinted to, about corruption when the inspiringly pure presences of President Ali and former president Jagdeo are involved.  Old school deference to their high offices is largely responsible.  Whenever I find other rationales for the kindnesses extended to these two noble Guyanese politicians, it will be forthcoming.

When I come across a public works contract that doesn’t have the whiff of corruption about it, it will be a personal celebration on a scale that would draw national attention.  For contract awards, by and large have become corruption on steroids.  There is  a whole machinery geared and goosed to operate in flawless lockstep.  For the uninitiated, to be a bidder for a contract for some government project is the equivalent of becoming a contract killer for the Cosa Nostra.  It is a secret operation with its own secret codes and secret signals, with one objective only.  Some poor sucker who thought that he was in good standing, i.e., the low bidder, is going to have to go down.  When a Guyanese engineer within the PPP Government’s trusted circle is required to give his stamp of approval on a done job, there are many who are head and shoulders better than Salvatore “the Engineer” Greco of Sicilian Mafia legend.  Among the best engineers are some of those saddled with the sensitive duty of evaluators.  Such hit jobs on Guyana’s treasury are not left to amateurs and outsiders, no matter how well qualified.

Close to a half trillion Guyana dollars in business to be overseen and given the nod (and wink) means that business is bright and that it is another dark day for Guyanese hooked through the nose and led to the gallows, as the result of one frameup job after another.

This is what is called clean governance in Guyana.  All should be thankful for how transparent corruption has been in Guyana under the PPP Government.  The president was right to promise transparency, but even he must be staggered by the broad daylight assaults and batteries on the intelligence of the Guyanese people.  Their patience and forbearance also in case anyone forgot.  Guyanese of PPP descent (yes, I coined that one, for politics is ancestry and pedigree in Guyana) are so disgusted that they make my task easier.  They run in front of people like me and point to the corruption of their beloved PPP, and flinch at how far standards and cleanliness have declined, how the rope of blind loyalty has run out its last strand.  It takes a hell of a lot of low dealing, double dealing, and dirty dealing, for matters to come to this disastrous and most undesired of precipices.When PPP vets of many decades and more proven works can knock citizens like me out of the way in their haste to table their rage at the state of national corruption, then no greater proof should be called for, necessary any longer.  When Guyanese who look like me, write of the corrupt culture that has exploded, and speak in the manner that I do, there is special attention and action from friends of President Ali and Vice President Jagdeo to register their thanks and best wishes.  It is good to be doing something right, for once, in this country, and be recognized for it.

Look at what Guyana has become under the PPP Government of the last four years.  Look at where Guyana is today, with a bow to the magic of many of the leading men and women in the PPP Government.  From a narco state to a corrupt state to a criminal state. And to a state of unimaginable and unprecedented lacerations and abominations.  The US Department of the Treasury had something to say about those.  The US Department of Justice will be careful with what it shares.  There must be some accountability for all those blights.  In saying something like that (accountability is a must) I am sure that I just became the best friend of President, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali who will be jolly eager to agree.  His new friendship shouldn’t be with a citizen pushing 95, but with those who stare unblinkingly at late 2025.  The cup of forbearance had been exhausted.  I say no more.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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• Congress, GHK Lall, Mexican, PPP, US President James Polk

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