Gambling on a principled president

Jul 06, 2025 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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Hard Truths by GHK Lall

Kaieteur News – On Monday, September 1^st, Guyanese will go out and vote for the political party of their choice.  When those casting their ballot do so, they are, in effect, voting for the head of that party’s list, the presidential candidate.  May only those who are eligible to vote, exercise that right for their national and regional choices.  Once only.

A presidential candidate, what should Guyanese think is of vital importance, look for, in such a person?  In a country devastated by a history of the weakest, slipperiest, and most tragic assortment of leaders, the presidential candidate voted for has to be a cut above what has gone before.  If the Guyanese voter, who hold so much power in his or her hand, vision is for a basement apartment and a minimum wage job in New York, then the kind of presidential candidate given that prized ‘X’ doesn’t matter.  If, on the other hand, the commitment is to a long-term place in this oil rich country of countries, then the idea of what the presidential candidate should embody takes on new meaning.  Powerful meaning.  Unambiguous meaning.  Nonnegotiable meaning.

The question before every Guyanese voter has to be: what kind of president do I want?  Which of the presidential candidates is worth my trust?  In what type of presidential hands would I be comfortable placing my children’s future?  And, on the ballot paper string of presidential candidates, who stands out as one of his or her word, someone of principle, a political presence that prioritizes personal honor?  These have not mattered much before, as Guyanese know all too well.  But they had better matter now, unless being bottom feeders and servile citizens is the height of local ambition.

Taking a backward glance is recommended, so as to be better positioned to move forward without misgivings, because there is the strength of conviction.  What luck have Guyanese had with their presidential candidates?  Especially those of more recent times, and now with that date with the Fates, September 1^st drawing ever closer?  It should never have come to this (luck).  The luck of the draw and resignation with the card pulled.  From the record, Guyanese voters have compiled a record unmatched by any in turning up either jacks or jokers.  I grew up with a set of those being called knaves.  Guyanese are overdue a change from their run of rotten luck with presidential candidates, but there is one handicap.  The cards just aren’t there this time around.  The lesser of a half dozen evils is just as unpalatable and indistinguishable as the lesser of two.  What’s in a number if the result leads to the same place?

From the record again, what do the presidential candidates vying for political power represent, project, in the departments of ethics and self-respect?  Guyanese are not so stupid as to be unable to detect putridity from principle.  But it can be an near insurmountable task for the simple, decent folk of Guyana to separate nonvenomous snakes from venomous ones.  More candidly, there is some difficulty encountered by local voters in recognizing Charles Ponzi from Peter Principle, or conman from political contestant.  When a contestant is a comrade, with the tighter linkage of clansman, then the interest in principle is hurled overboard. The pathetic floats to the surface, and from there to the winner’s circle.  Country and citizens have paid a bitter price for willful blindness, due to the kind of reckless carefreeness and shortsightedness generated by tribal heritage.

The stakes are higher this time, never have been higher.  This is where matters que up.  Five more years of docile domestication that put to shame that hallmark of sovereignty (national self-determination), or a fight for the national dignity and prosperity due.  Regarding self-determination, Winston Churchill fought, insisted, that the subcontinent Indians were not ready.  What would he have said now, if he were alive and at full capacity?  Slight adjustment, please: half capacity, because even with that deficit, he would be appalled at what Guyanese have lived with, come to accept as the norm.  Like a child bullied continuously for his pocket money, that has been the lot of Guyanese when the claws and fangs of their presidential candidates change overnight into their worst nightmares.

Over the years, I cringed on hearing a bleating lament.  “Is bess leh de white maan come bak and tek ovah de contree.”  He has, hasn’t he?  And now with Guyana’s riches trapped in his hand.  The honour of that development belongs to those presidential candidates who became national leaders.  They celebrate by putting on global display their anatomical shortages, their defects in capacity, integrity, and devotion to national duty.  When a presidential candidate easily abandons principle and patriotism’s highest ideals, then that Guyanese is most unfit to be president.  Over to the voter.

(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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• Elections, gambling, GHK Lall, hard truths, President

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