Dear Editor,
Sometimes I grow impatient with the new people. So do others. Then there is another revelation, yet one more abomination in an endless litany of murky malfeasances. There is so much that was done (wrong); so much that was not done (thoughtlessly). The impatience ebbs momentarily.
It becomes clearer now how much calculation and energy was invested in concealing and detouring to mislead. The priors have demonstrated elusiveness; scarce resources are engaged; the populace waxes restlessly. Today, layers of impenetrable Stygian armor guard against fact finders and truth-seekers. The Panama Papers may lack local names, but there are considerable holdings in nearby Florida. The holdings are rearranged under family trees, sometimes extended. There are other places of divestiture, and similarly willing collaborators. The Stygian thickness intensifies; cover stories abound; tracks peter out into cul-de-sacs. And I realize my impatience is misplaced.
The old governors were busy: They gave away gold; they gave wood; they gave sanctuary. They can account for neither shares nor dollars; their accounting systems and practices might be unknown to man. These are but a few randomly selected areas that reiterate the painstaking intricate Humpty Dumpty suturing required. Never have so many misbehaved so much for so long. Talk about dirty hands and unclean spirits!
But according to the malefactors, they got nothing, asked for nothing, took nothing. Both smell test and eye test persuade that such claims cannot stand, especially when one scrutinizes the parties involved; the perverse pantheon of schemers and two bit hustlers on both sides of the Guyana bargains. Yes, their cup overflowed…
Similarly, the entrenched profligacy and proliferation of circumstances led to the de facto legitimization of drugs activity complete with a reigning narcotocracy. That costly legacy lives more underground now. To present an indication of its sophistication and metamorphosing subtlety, a mere child recently posed this ranging angling question: in view of the slowed economy, should the government not be less stringent and less committed, more piecemeal and more dilatory in its approach to curb this scourge? My response should leave nothing to conjecture.
Some seven years ago approximately, this was written about right here in this space. Additionally, the city jail and sewer system were identified as time bombs way back then. The sewage system flows, while Camp Street assumes continual (if not continuous) flashpoint status. Lamentations resound in the land.
Then there is the GPF. It has recorded some recent triumphs; but there is structured, cultural, and powerful resistance to change from within the khaki line. It is one more inheritance to be prized. In education, that onetime citadel of moral enlightenment and ethical essentials, many of the practitioners epitomize the worst of the greediness and deception of the recent era. Some teach what they know not; parents rush to stock up on quantity and content of dubious value. The cycle continues, but with another succeeding generation imbued with examples which signify that misconduct means more money.
Indeed, this administration does have its work cut out for it, and no one is cutting it any slack, even though the labours of Hercules are needed. Clearly, a revolution in governance is demanded. Meanwhile, patience must find footing and understanding take firmer hold.
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
