Dear Editor,
There is this sideshow, this soap opera distraction, of the pending demise of the General Secretary. Curiously, as these things go in Stalinist-type circles, there is the other half of this dog and pony show racing to the rescue. In communistic apparatuses, secretaries, be they first or general or otherwise, do not need help, and usually disdain such, particularly when it hails from certain quarters under attack.
Now as the plot thickens, Guyanese should be entertained, but not fooled. The fact is that the so-called leader and the General Secretary need each other, and desperately. One carries the ignominy of being a loser, and the other harbours hopes of being a winner. Thus, both need each other to prop up their own projections and ambitions; and nothing else. They need each other for firm management and tight containment of the uneasy and unsettled; to still dissent; and to purge the threatening, if there are really any.
Editor, this is a party of two. There are no other consistent faces, no other persistent voices. This is the tyrannical hegemony of a political duopoly, a powerful one, which seeks to entrench itself further against any daring enough to question. It is about dominating and dividing and devouring on the inside. Just look at the public record starting from last May. Even the brand name descendant from Central High is of little consequence, and largely nonexistent; while the man made infamous by spools and tapes struggles to stay relevant with a snippet here and there; and the amorphous rest condemned to the faceless anonymity of a cast of thousands.
Clearly, the leader and secretary have no choice but to salvage each other, given their visions. The calculations of both are excited, and these have nothing to do with progress for this society. Warped ambitions may flicker and wane, but they do not die.
Take a look, this is the local version of a rambunctious, erratic Khrushchev and a patient, plodding, colourless Brezhnev waiting in the wings. One is Comrade Parry, the other Comrade Thrust. None should ever make the mistake of deleting the ‘h’ from thrust.
Nowadays their game plan takes form, becomes more visible. Arrogance failed us, one reportedly said. There is some minuscule hint of regret in there. It is the regret of being found out.
It is why these two watch out for each other, and each other’s backs, if only to stamp out any feeble residual embers of challenge or budding dissension. Call it self-preservation. Time and again, Guyanese have been fascinated (many times outraged) observers of men who sell themselves to purchase power, even proximity to power. On occasion, it calls for the hard unpalatable sacrifice of selling on behalf of an inferior rival. The question is: which one would that be?
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
