The PPP men recently sunk to a new low: they sent two women to do a dirty job. One took the offensive with pointer brooms in a valiant attempt to cast the phantoms into outer darkness, and to put a spell on those questioning. She failed on both counts.
According to all sightings, it was not an illuminating performance by the presidential adviser, who was in full load-shedding mode. She tried beating the bushes with prepared mumbo jumbo; tried to fake speaking in tongues; and she tried burying the phantoms through semantic sorcery. It was gale force bluster, and her comrade was not of much help, as everything appeared to be foreign to her. Here were women sent to croon carols and rock a cradle in Georgetown to restless spirits still roaming unchecked. Over there are men skilled in the manufacture and employment of hundreds of ghostly messengers, suddenly dreading any attachment to real life phantoms of their own making, and feigning ignorance. Why the fear over these apparitions?
It is because these phantom killings form part of ever expanding concentric circles of involvement that stretch from Georgetown to New Delhi, from Paramaribo and Port of Spain to Marion via Brooklyn, and from other places and parties still under the radar. These are circles that encompass penthouses, safe houses, halfway houses, and houses of ill repute, including one where there is freedom to engage in unlimited acts of villainy. For these so-called phantom activities are not only of who did what to whom when, but also on whose behalf. All the usual suspects have been rounded up and paraded: turf, contracting, subcontracting, silencing, and copycats. All the usual suspects, that is, save one – the political connection.
It is a political connection that remains on the run. All the circumstances, all the undisclosed intelligence indicate that the killings, and the associated guns, narcotics, money laundering, corruption, payoff and protection have traceable political components. It is because of this political-criminal nexus that investigations are stonewalled, incriminating phantom partnerships temporarily disowned, and phantoms excommunicated. Unsurprisingly, the country believes that beyond the murky netherworld of phantoms lies the interlocking universe of the official and underground power apparatus; and the reality of mutual dependency and continued cover-up.
Thus it was the same old ‘jumbie’ story for those who attended the recent public relations séance held by local exorcists. Where some saw madness, there was method. While the PPP people may be irremediably dumb, they are not stupid. In fact, the party is very crafty.
The adviser asked for more information; the unprecedented mayhem that turned Guyana into war zones is not enough. The violent deaths of hundreds in a very short period just happen to be “unfortunate” and unconnected. Recall the first phantom insider and informant and his suspicious demise; recall that this same government calling for information today did not want to know anything that he had to offer then. Now the pantomime persists about interest in information.
Looked at closely this is part of a larger calculation. It is to get inquisitors to reveal how much information is known, to buy time, and then using the same to advise and alter. Some would call this tampering; sanitizing works fine, too. But the lure is out for more useable information, even though nobody of any standing is nibbling, or shares anything of substance any more. Still, a little help might be in order. Remember: be careful about what is asked for.
In most places in this world, where some semblance of law prevails, scores of mysterious deaths would be a source of grave consternation. So when hundreds of local deaths evoke little official reaction other than murmurings of a nonchalant nature, it is time for society to take urgent notice and put its ear to the ground. Everyone knows by now that most of the killings can be traced directly to certain criminal silos; that they were not stand-alone affairs of passion; that they were neither routine nor lacking linkage; and that they exhibit all the indications of, if not complicity, then at least more than passing political awareness. Society is convinced of this and the contributory behaviour of principals – whether local law enforcement or political administration or persons of interest – only strengthens this conviction. It is a conviction further solidified by the occasional well-placed and timely reprimand from interested Western powers. Taken together and when all the dots are connected all the way, the rationales and subterfuges that underpin the studied indifference and immovability of this government are better understood. For it to do otherwise would be contributing to its own self destruction. The government knows this well, hence the latest burlesque from OP and Foreign.
There should be no mistake: the stakes are high; it is about holding on to power at any cost. There can be no compromises. In Cold War terms, there is an abiding fear about the domino effect – the fall of any one domino could bring down the whole house. It is why the operative word is ‘containment’ of information; why there are always attempts to ‘roll-back’ any interest in pursuing that which haunts; why there is rigid political ‘encirclement’ of calls for independent investigation.
Accordingly, phantoms and their horrendous secrets must be protected; they can topple; and if that were to happen there would be no sanctuary anywhere for those fingered. Political players and observers in Guyana know as much. Another thing is also known with certainty: this government will use any means to ensure that there is no valid probe into the evils that accumulated during its watch, and for which responsibility – indeed, involvement – is stamped on its forehead. Let there be no confusion: any infusion of life into substantive phantom investigations could signal the death knell of this government. This is the abiding fear, and of untold attached consequences. It must not come to pass.
