Is the PPP anti-Guyana? 

Dec 03, 2024 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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…Hard Truths

By GHK Lall 

Kaieteur News-It is worth repeating the question: is the PPP anti-Guyana?  Yes, it is.  Oh yes, it is.  The response could be extended to say that the PPP is also against a certain kind of Guyanese.

Those would be any citizens that have the cojones to speak out against its policies, its leadership, and its actions in government.  Neither the party nor government has any use for a hospitable reception to attitudes and actions that are constructive for all Guyanese.  The fact that only the progressive would be commended is of little solace to the group.

For that means there would be a less than favourable response to what is seen as serving the party and government’s interests more than that of Guyanese.  The appearance, the articulation, of any such role or position taken by citizens makes those Guyanese enemies of a group of people who are ultrasensitive to balanced criticism.  I assert that, based on my observations any type of criticism is viewed as an existential threat by leaders and diehard followers.

Criticism signifies that there are some mavericks running off at the pen or mouth (loose cannons).  Loose cannons are dangerous, in that they can help others to think, gain converts, present dilemmas for the leadership.  There is only one way to be followed.  It is what the party and government say is right, what must be followed unswervingly, unquestioningly.

Recall that from the last PPP Congress the General Secretary’s breaking news that the party was discarding some longstanding isms.  Whatever they were, it is revealing what was retained.  A vision for complete dominance and total control, while parroting in the usual brainwashed fashion juicy morsels having to do with democracy.  Whatever these chaps know about democracy, a donkey knows ten times as much.  Meantime, a dominated and controlled citizenry is reduced to docility and passivity.  Any type of horse manure can be shovelled down its throat.  This is the kind of population that delights Drs. Ali and Jagdeo. Both want blind obedience.  Both love absolute subservience.  They thrill to a dumbed down population, starting with their own people.

Criticism aside, any development, any recommendation, any consideration that offers Guyana a glimpse of moving from Point A to Point B is dismissed as ill-conceived, ill-informed, and ill-intentioned.  How does seeking a better oil deal that could benefit all Guyanese be the work of a social guerilla operator?  Since when does calling President Ali to account for the transparency that he so boldly promised makes that Guyanese a subversive?  Why and how does anything that offers Guyana some hope to improve on some of its less than stellar economic ventures lead to being dammed as an enemy of the state and people, nothing but a homegrown insurgent?  Is there not a single Guyanese who means well?

It has long been obvious that to be helpful is not well-received by the People’s Progressive Party.  It may possess something that the rest of the world believes has some merit, but it will never be good enough for the PPP.  Two areas are responsible.  The first is the source of the helpful idea developed.  If that person doesn’t hail from the right geography, or is not part of the right demography, or lacks the right history, then whatever the idea or vision is, it is dead on arrival.  Dies stillbirth in the womb.  Thus, a country is held back because one man has fevered paranoia and amnesia, while another lives in a world plagued by youthful dementia and leadership hysteria.

Apologists and propagandists, a large part of the PPP’s wide circus world, point to high buildings and long roads, both of which sparkle with newness.  Indeed, they represent something, but for whom else besides foreign investors and local business operators?  Some citizens get jobs and exposure to a different world.  But who is doing a more succulent job (politeness prevents from mentioning what kind) on Guyana?

When crucial developments and issues have to be rammed past reasonable objections (Wales electricity project), spirited concerns (Thomas Lands hotel appearance) then whose interests come first?  And who is benefiting first and probably the most, if not schemers in the PPP Government?  When secrecy is so prevalent in the PPP Government and commercial marriage, then where and how can any such thing be pro Guyana?  When matters and hands are clean, then there is no need for anything to be concealed. Hence, there can only be contemptuous dismissal of the president’s embarrassing defence vested in “confidentiality.”  Such a posture only reduces the owner to a caricature.

A thoughtful party, a wise government, is pleased to take a handful of ideas from citizens on the pivotal matters.  Not many things, just a few will do.  Like oil.  Like corruption.  Like leadership to be respected.  Such would be about good faith and goodwill.  Partnership with the people.  There’s no call to condemn everyone else as criminals or demons.  That’s anti-Guyana.  Hobbles and weakens.  Perpetuates the shelf life of perps.  A sea change is necessary if Guyana will be one of anything.  Or anything at all, after all the infrastructure and all the foreign investment.

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

(Is the PPP anti-Guyana? )

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• certain kind of Guyanese, hard truths, Is the PPP anti-Guyana?, Loose cannons, PPP

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