Get something right, please

Jun 01, 2026 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

Hard Truths by GHK Lall

(Kaieteur News) – First, it was a sacred emblem, the National Flag during the Diamond Jubilee Independence celebrations, which showed its opposition to being pushed around and treated like a yoyo. From there things went from a national embarrassment to a national disgrace. The rains came in torrential downpours, the floods followed. Will the PPP Govt., from president to its other human props get something right, please? Floods are the focus.

Wrong priorities produce wrong results. Grand, expensive monuments going up left and right, here and everywhere. Great stuff, I say. But why not the floorboards that are either covered by floodwaters, or so weakened that the people using them can’t standup?

Another priority has been the politics of power: push for more control, towards total control. To take charge of one municipality and township after another, while prevention and maintenance suffer from lack of finances or lack of genuine interest. Big visions and the pursuit of power at all costs lead to Guyanese in different places across the country swamped to their gills. The neglected paying the price for the corrupted. Billions budgeted. Where did the money go? Pumps bought. How come they can’t do the job when rains descend and water levels rise? More lamenting, more handwringing. And more of that circus visiting flooded areas again. The caravans carrying Cabinet members hurrying to pacify the distressed; belatedly demonstrating forced instances of ‘Because We Care.

The money was and is there to care. Except that there are monuments to build, speeches to celebrate, and funds to steal. So, the Guyanese spirit shattered and under watery siege across the Land of Many Waters, get more waters than they need, can manage. Floods were feared and spoken of before. The cry was that there was no money. Billions needed. Guyana has them now. The PPP Govt. has full control of those billions now. So, what happened? Why do floods still overtake and overwhelm from the capital city to some drowning community in near and distant parts of this country? The Big Kahunas parade in chariots (Mercedes, Ferraris, and Lamborghinis). The little people of Guyana ply their canoes and other ways to stay afloat. Soaked. Homes flooded. First seeped, then saturated. Rising tides of water with nowhere to go. Nothing new, only the tiring, sickening old. The New Guyana just cannot shake being the Old Guyana.

There is relief: ministers in a cavalcade of relief ambulances rushing to soothe. No one in high place is laughing this time. At least, not in public. The public is still hospitable, still welcoming, still hoping. For what, avoiding a repeat? Tough luck. Don’t hold breath. Before the waters subside, it will be back to the usual routines. Speeches. Celebrations. The president pleased to be a traveling oil salesman, while Guyanese live like bondsmen. Too much water. Too little genuine attention. Too little honest effort. For flood control. For light in the house and houses of commerce. For truth and honesty in government and leadership. For putting the things that demand and deserve to be prioritized at the top of every list.

When government is crooked, then its programs are crooked. Pumps failing (heard before). Rains swamping (same result). Ministers scrambling (camouflaging failures). Leaders assembling (handwringing, promising). Citizens reeling (relief coming). SNAFU multiplying (disasters repeated). There can be no excuses now. There should not be any more appeals for more time, more patience, more understanding. Get it done. Or get out. Guyanese had better get sense and get up and get those who toy with their wellbeing out of where they are. The challenge is to where and who, and with what result. The outlook is uninspiring.

Last, I read that this season’s El Nino is calculated to be a bad one. What then? Either a rock or a harder place: more floods or drought. Both means higher stresses, higher prices. Not to worry, government cares, has a plan.

(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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Diamond Jubilee Independence, GHK Lall, Guyana Flag

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