Guyanese are so lucky: bad cop, bad cop

Nov 19, 2024 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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…Hard Truths

By GHK Lall 

Kaieteur News- Often, I get the impression that the PPP two top dogs are trying to outduel each other.  It has been bad cop, bad cop.  Who isn’t crude, is rude; one is a brawler, the other is a noisemaker.  If it is not a drama, then it is the opera.

Vice President Jagdeo lets loose with one salvo after another every Thursday in an ongoing effort to prove how macho he is.  The truth of the result is that he comes close to something totally different, not quite describable.  Bets are being taken as to what Dr. Jagdeo’s future level of degradation will be for two extraordinary Thursdays left in this year.  The first Thursday is on Thanksgiving Day, which fills out the last Thursday in November on the 28th.  It is a special day for Americans, a sacred one I would say [for me at least].  The Americans could do without this bad cop routine that Jagdeo has worked so hard at on their day of celebration.  What he is going to do on November 28th is a sure thing.  The crowd of foreign investors present in Guyana must not be upset by any political histrionics and frivolous leadership antics on a day when turkeys provide the fun and the New York Giants, Dallas Cowboys, and Detroit Lions are set to square off. It is almost a high holy day for Americans, and though Jagdeo doesn’t know, he will behave himself, bad cop or no bad cop. It was he himself who said that foreign investors get unhappy quickly.  So why rock the boat on Thursday, November 28th with some loudmouth, emptyheaded, wrongfooted press conference to muck up the festivities of the foreigners, especially those Americans.

Unfortunately, when Guyanese could do with a break and get some relief through the presence of a good cop to balance things out, they get another bad cop on the political beat, and does he pack some heat.  I am speaking of President Mohamed “Macho Man” Ali.  He showed dem luckless Guyanese guys and gals de adder day who is de Iron Sheik.  Imagine getting a battering at 05:30 in the morning.  But that was part of the drama and joke played on unsuspecting citizens.  The men and women summoned to the president’s presser were still so deep in their sleep that they didn’t hear one word that he said.  The problem was that the few who took care to show the proper respect and be awake and alert didn’t care about anything that Stone Cold Irfaan Ali put on the table.  They have been hearing that day after day, week after monotonous week from SN and KN, so who cares, what’s the urgency?  What’s the point with all this big, bristling, bad cop stuff?  Regardless, I think that by any fair judging, the scorecard should indicate that President Ali won that round about who is the badder cop in that he pulled a nice one on Jagdeo.  To this point, Dr. Jagdeo has been civilized (relatively speaking, of course); he waits until the liquid lunches of his listeners have taken hold before he gets down to business.  I give credit where credit is due: Vice President Jagdeo has not used his rank, and the great fears associated with it, to yank anyone out of their bed.  Not even the most junior public servant or minister has been rolled out of bed, then rolled in the mud.  And, before the sun came up in the east.  I am grateful to the Vice President that he has not made it a policy to change the cardinal point from which the sun rises.  There is still hope for him, which is why I never give up on him, try to keep him on his toes, so that he sees God one of these good days.  Rather modestly, I must say that the divine isn’t me.

Moving on smartly, there is still that other Thursday that could be profaned by a bad cop (VP) press conference to keep things uniform.  It is St Stephens Day, more familiarly known as Boxing Day, which is on Thursday, December 26.  Surely, Dr. Jagdeo will not make his press rounds on that day to prove to Dr. Ali who is de badder cop.  Ow, boss! Let de Guyaneeez peeple drink de brown rum in peace, nah.  They cannot afford Johnnie Walker Blue, so please give them the space to enjoy their national holiday.  What is there to announce on a day so late in the year?  Who would be left to abuse after a whole year of doing so with relish and mustard and good ole Guyanese pepper sauce to cremate those Guyanese who get in his way, who work hard to show the big bad cop the error of his ways.  Incidentally, Boxing Day is a religious holiday, so to speak, so I implore both Excellency Ali and His Most Senior Excellency Jagdeo to how some regard for other people.

As for President Ali, I am shuddering.  What next will he come up with to prove how ruff and tuff he could be?  A call for a conference at midnight?  Come to think of it, that would be in keeping with the Yuletide Season:  It came upon a midnight hour…  I must admit it, sometimes I am a bit of a ruffian myself.

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

(Guyanese are so lucky: bad cop, bad cop)

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• bad cop, hard truths, Thursday, unsuspecting citizens

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