Dear Editor,
We are witnesses to this inexorable public march towards a fateful political embrace. All the terrible wrongs of a dismal endless time appear poised for absolution and disappearance into the vast dark maw of local political expediency. Refer to ‘Granger supports PPP’s “national alliance policy’ (KN, September 9). It must be said: The political veil thickens…
Soon it could be official. Then euphoria will reign heavily in the expanded political square, the marketplace of schemers and barterers. There was secret slobbering to get at the magnetizing and addictive riches within reach, and the cash cows waiting for the milking. Soon the denominator will swell. In other words, there are more gleeful political participants to grab the bonanzas of office. It is bacchanal time. Citizens be damned, are damned. The bewildered will ask: How can this be so? Is this not what was called for by many, yearned for over the years?
The public record will show that close to fifteen years ago, I was among those writing about consensus and sharing of power. Sadly, I do not see the latter as a panacea any more. The ruling party committed too many atrocities, despoiled too much, and is too far gone to be curable. There has to be accountability; there must be. I readily concede the recriminatory character of my stance; and the associated impractical realities (a clear majoritarian number is lacking). Still, I say that partnership and ‘alliance’ today is the sordid and reckless political equivalent of sleeping with ‘professional’ boys and girls, who are known to be gravely infected. This is how it is, and how we have lived politically in the last 22 years.
During those same 22 years, and never more so than in the last several years, there is this opposition that is weighed down by chronic inaction, palpable incompetence, and suspect integrity. Yet here comes this creeping surreptitious shotgun marriage made in heaven. I see this as representative of the vilest sort of political inbreeding intended to keep the money and jewels in the old dominant political tribes. This is simply looking out for themselves and their present and future prospects. Remember: themselves only. For the most part, I do not believe that they have what it takes to be different, to be selfless, to be honourable. Just watch. I hope I am wrong. I want to be very wrong on this one.
In the meantime, get ready for an inundation of fancy speeches, and a concerted rush to the empty but convenient harbours of patriotism and unity. Just wait and watch. Those who detect abhorrence and dismay and cynicism are correct, but this does not capture sufficiently the pervasive anger, the sprawling disgust sweeping from within and across this place. Yes, such is the powerful, terrible nature of existing distrust and discontent, of how the context of life in this bedraggled society has inculcated a deep and abiding revulsion. I think that they (the schemers and dividers of the national spoils) should all be put in that homemade wooden submarine and sent on their way. Except that there are rich happy hunting grounds right here, right now. It is time to celebrate.
Now two things can be said unequivocally: After half a century, Guyanese voters – both black and brown, whether pandered to or purchased – are all helpless pawns without a smidgen of a say in the direction of individual and collective destiny. To be sure, there is the form of participation and decision-making, but the real substance is the manoeuvering of those same voters by the self-centred, venal, narcissistic manipulators. It is said be careful for what you wish; our wish is on a cusp; it is shiny, new, and mesmerizing. I predict that it will be the arrival of one more disappointment, another reason for further disillusion. Now, the Guyanese people are in for the time of their lives – one way or another.
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
