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The Speaker, a shaky figure
Editorial…
Kaieteur News- When the individual records of this country’s Speaker of the National Assembly (Speaker), Guyana’s most august house, are compiled, that of the current holder is going to suffer from some whiplash. If those records are neutral, the work of today’s Speaker will hover somewhere between the disastrous and the ridiculous. We at this paper think that he has called that upon himself, in that he has gone from gatekeeper of the business of the people, to what is the equivalent of a prison warden. Nothing passes through under his watch, so vigilant is he to protect the government’s weak spots, its priorities. Just recently, the Speaker did the unthinkable initially: a moment of silence out of respect for a fallen citizen was first met with the gavel of his objection. It was a shocking denial.
To the Speaker’s credit, some instance of commonsense, a rare moment of self-regard, overcame his tendency to object and block what even gives the faintest whiff of a concern for the government. Speakers of the House in Guyana are expected to be in favour of those who are responsible for them being where they are. But, the holder of the elevated office of Speaker of the National Assembly should not be a robot or a bot, one that occupies a box, and from which there is neither separating nor emerging. A moment of silence in a time of difficulty has some aura, some undefined power, that holds everyone together for a short moment. But of that, even of that, the Speaker balked at the beginning, and then thankfully changed his mind.
Did the Speaker labour under that calamity of a man not having a mind of his own, nor any strength remaining? He had to take a long pause, but why, and that is the question that troubles many Guyanese. He had to go over in his mind, or reach for other guiding minds, on whether to agree to a moment of silence. When even basic thinking, the appearance of certain hallowed things, no longer matter, it is obvious that the Guyana Speaker is in a world of his own, and a class of his own making. What harm could there be over a moment of silence in circumstances that literally were crying out for it? We think that the Speaker is not some heartless man made of stone, but he did end up where he did. It was to stand like some draconian immigration officer and saying that that cannot come here, or pass here.
Guyana as a country may be at the heights economically, at least on spreadsheets and newssheets. But Guyana as a country is also at its lowest depths where its human capital is concerned. When the keenest and most luminous citizens flee for decades to take up residence all over the world, then the residue is mostly found wanting. What is left often ends up in parliament and in the highest seats of power. The local record is there for all to examine, and it is a cause for shame.
When issues of the most demanding nature are consistently blocked from moving forward in the people’s parliament, then only the hollow and the safe are debated. There is the Speaker, and he is apparently in love with his role as parliamentary censor. The Speaker is nothing if not a steady hand at the wheel. He first blocks a moment of silence relative to a mystery tragedy, and then does the opposite in the instance of oil. He insists upon silence on such issues, stands in the way of those clamoring for tabling and discussing of matters that mention oil in its pages.
The Speaker of Guyana’s foremost house presents a perfect reflection of how thorough the government is. The government is uncannily successful in singling out a set of citizens who know how to hold the line, regardless of what the law and custom require. There is the Office of the Commissioner of Information, the Office of the Prime Minister, and the Office of the President. All are mostly populated by people with history and pedigree. They pass muster with political duties, national duties and standards, however, expose their deficiencies.
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