When the legacy of the last ten years is scrutinized under a microscope, two issues will come into sharp focus and dominate. The comity of the races will be one of the major issues to be reviewed and pronounced upon, perhaps endlessly; the other will be how much of the nation’s present and future existence was sacrificed before the altar of political expediency.
Both issues will be answered by future events and the scars they inflict; there will be little doubt then as to the scale of the negligence and recklessness that gained traction, and which is now a way of life. In many senses, these two interrelated issues – of race and expediency – will rise to transcend recollections and measurements of what transpired in this country in the last decade.
When the record is scoured, there would be, and should be, recognition of houses, roads and other infrastructural developments; positive things all. But the record will point also to the huge iniquitous class that grew up to surround such works, and the irresponsibility that resulted in response to the pleas to purge the stables of corruption.
It is an irresponsibility that is undeniable, and from which even leaders might encounter some difficulty in extricating themsleves. But if this were all, a roseate picture, like the ones the tub-thumpers and professionals draw, would predominate; it would shine through the costly scandals, overpowering excesses, and fatuous defences.
People might even believe – at least some of the people, some of the time. But this is not all, and while monstrosities on their own, they pale into insignificance before the issues of race and expediency, and the failures that occurred during this fateful watch of ten years’ duration.
The issues become clearer when a keen look is taken at what was done, where this led, and what it means for the future. It is a story rife with options and decisions, non-inclusion and confrontation, and casualties and consequences.
When the opportunities to approach and reach into the race vortex surfaced, they were strenuously avoided; even when public promises were made to do so, hidebound traditions prevailed.
The running sores of racial rancour were allowed to bloom unattended and unchecked; they still fester unresolved. Instead of the ruling caste taking the lead in amplifying the volume and cogency of discussion, there was muted withdrawal. Instead of facing head-on the issue that cripples, there was only the usual pretence lodged in feet of clay. All the while, the echoes of disenchantment and disillusionment ricocheted with nuanced ferocity on the margins and thoroughfares of society.
Now, the failure to search for a mechanism to channel the expectations and energies of a people; to ease its frustrations; and to encourage its aspirations amounts to nothing less than a waiting calamity.
On this one issue of racial truth and reconciliation, Guyana has been a headless body in a topless state in the past ten years; and when it seemed as though matters could not get any worse, they did.
When confrontation escalated into bloody struggle, crucial stances introduced proxies into combat. There was to be no dialogue, no engagement, no quarter. Thus a porous power grew from the barrels of guns – many guns – and the day was won. It has left partisan strongholds imbued with animus and cheer, and moral support and defensive loyalties. This is the hedge that parts neighbourly existence; that purchased a tenuous peace; heightened bitterness, and entrenched hostility. There was no sitting around the table; differences and what disturbs were hurled to the far periphery of consciousness, through embracing the wrong choices and taking the wrong direction; the choices and directions of the last ten years that exacerbated longstanding antagonisms.
When political conflict assumed all the elements of high-powered business operations, a new destructive ethos was unleashed; the temper of a grassroots struggle evaporated; a new normalcy came into being. And its legacy is the commercialization and militarization of political tension and power. What had divided before now reorganized into the discipline of professional recruits.
When substantive outreach and inclusion were ruled out, fateful choices were implemented: they still reek of miscalculation and ignorance all around; of confrontation rather than negotiation; of overpowering rather than winning over; and of going it alone and the rest will fall into place in time, or be forced into place. Even a cursory examination of circumstances indicates that some things did not obediently settle into designated place, or went quite according to plan. Rather, they only added to the accumulated weight of racial animosities, and stirred more vigorously roiling resentments. It is why comity of the races and political expediency will go down as the monumental failures of the last lost decade, which have overshadowed all that followed, and promise to influence what is still to come. It certainly was, as the Chinese say, living in interesting times.
When change arrives, regardless of who goes and who comes, some things will remain untouchable, and the consequences of expediency will become more evident. The problem is that millionaire constables, billionaire businessmen, and the legions of institutionalized human money machines that proliferated in the decade are here to stay. Additionally, there are many phantoms and secrets to be coddled and protected. With these came devastation and loathing, and the death of all that is rational and civil. Now like restless spirits, they haunt conversations, paralyze communities, frighten people, and distort truth. It goes without saying that none of this is compatible with the interests of the nation, especially the welfare of its peoples. It is the price of the piper.
So, when a clear-eyed look is taken of the last ten years, these two superlative failures will be remembered and regretted. It is where reason fled and the hour was won at costs unmeasured. It was where the day was lost, and left a nation tattered. Heraclitus said that “character is destiny.” If this is so, then clearly there was little of the former. Now everyone wonders what this promises for the latter and this country.
