Process, procedure, political people and public servants 

Feb 10, 2025 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

---

Hard Truths…

By GHK Lall

Kaieteur News- It could have been 20 acres or 10, maybe even only one acre of prime land.  It has become hell’s half acre for some people.  Their answers are always at the ready.  Then again, politicians of long duration know what they have to do to extend their tenure.

Credibility may be on its last legs, but continuing by whatever means is all that has meaning.  So, they engage in the usual charades that have grown rancid from overexposure.  The words roll from their lips in what they believe are persuasive positions, defenses that are so formidable that they cannot be breached.  Process came first.  Then procedure.  Then, to put an exclamation point on a scandal that has ballooned into a fiasco, there was smirking about who also is the owner of State lands, or in the middle of what I call this Great Guyana land grab.

Process and procedure, as enshrined in the manuals, can be as solid as a rock.  On paper they look good.  Forms filled out.  Signatures affixed. Documents submitted.  Fees paid.  Interviews conducted.  Here are the key questions, the first of many: what was behind those forms, signatures, documents, fees?  What came before?  Who spoke to whom, and all was set, fell into place, in the time-honored manner of political people and businesspeople working out the nuances of their prearranged dealings?

In governance, what is a little understanding among friends?  In doling out the fruits of power and the fat of the land, why shouldn’t room be made for friends?  So, what had to be done, how much acreage involved, how much to be paid per acre, and how and who is part of the quid pro quo are all fleshed out and finalized beforehand.  Then the orders are passed.  This is the point at which public servants become part of the process, with procedures followed like clockwork.  Smooth as ice.  Ice can be thin in spots, weak when subjected to a little pressure, weight.  Where are the genuine people to drive processes, make them work as they should?

I have been near, seen, all of this happen in high places somewhere else.  When there is a development, one that poses a problem, one that could deteriorate into a widening crisis, there is a frantic scramble to cover over by papering over what transpired.  The seasoned political operators, the slick business supplicant (more accurately, a partner), and the knowing and willing public servant ensure that there is a long paper trail.  It provides the supporting evidence that all was well, all definitely aboveboard.  Process and procedure stand as exhibits that do not speak to the probable perversities that were part of what took place, but are nowhere in sight.  Not even a scent, no such stain at all.

Guyanese who have open minds and are honest enough to use them should be able to sift through the political narratives and defenses, draw their own conclusions.  Here is mine: when certain political people, those with one kind of checkered governance history, and their associates are around milk and honey, a mysterious thing happens.  Both milk and honey become smaller, drop lower, right before the eyes.  Substitute land for milk and honey.  Or gold concessions.  Or the dizzying array of lucrative opportunities from which choices could be made.  Dependable public servants know the game, who must be favored, and just how to do it, so that tracks are in line with requirements.  Process and procedure, they are called.  Where is the wrongdoing?  Why the suspecting and accusing and damning?  Oh, and regarding the damning, those who clamor loudly in strident protestations, should look at themselves first.  They should check their own books before they start to pelt bricks.  That one is older than the earth, hoarier than prostitution.

In Guyana, there are these unique algorithms of the government that its leaders articulate because they bring closure to all disagreements, shutdown additional hostile exchanges.  In the logic and mathematics of ruling political people, a minus and a minus is a plus.  That is, those who are crying out against, are also in the thick of the prime lands’ collector class.  All conversations, therefore, should cease.  I make no defense for no one.  But I put two things before my fellow Guyanese.  One is new, one was written years ago, in that time immediately preceding the coalition government.  It was that the structure of governance in this country is so rotted that to remove one board would bring the whole thing down.  In another country, one with standards and the kind of mechanisms that click into gear when the outrageous occurs, toppling would happen.  In Guyana, nothing of the sort ever takes place.  The last time that there were consequences for egregious wrongdoing, and chronic failures, was 1992.  Since then, the building blocks of political schemes, scams, and scandals have ruled this society.  It is Guyana’s sordid political-commercial complex.  There is a tight circle of selected public servants, who know their roles, do their part.

The second thing I put before citizens is this: how many more of these hustles are with Guyanese, and they don’t know.  The other half of that question is how many more are trapped in this den of dark deeds, and how high they go.

(Process, procedure, political people and public servants)

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

---

• Development, Great Guyana land grab, hard truths, meaning, politicians

---