As the two-month mark since the holding of general and regional elections approaches with no properly announced result and the recount of votes scrutinised by a Caricom team still to begin, there are a few, no, several things that are immediately apparent.
One is that Guyana is a nation that is floundering and, well on its way to being lost. Two is the fact that integrity in institutions on which its democracy should be built is shot. Three is that there is not enough consternation over this. And four is that this is a wheel that has already been turned so many times, it appears that some folk have given up and gotten off; and who can blame them?
Guyana’s politics has long been shaped by the traumas of its past. History has shown us what physical, mental and emotional trauma can do to a people and how the residue of such damage clings to generation after generation, much like a curse that cannot be reversed. What is particularly awful about it is that as these traumas are continually exploited as a means to an end, the window for healing moves infinitely closer to being shut forever.
If or when that happens, the prospect of an implosion increases tenfold. But it would appear that no one cares. Particularly not the politicians whose machinations and counter machinations have brought us all to this point. Eyes on the prize, they have no doubt already decided where to apportion blame. Obviously, the bad guys are always on the other side. But if there is anything global current affairs readily accessible online has taught us is that there are those who will believe their chosen leaders, even in the face of undeniable truths.
For what is surely the best example of this, we need look no further than the daily burble coming from the man considered to be the leader of the free world. His faux pas are legendary, made even more so by the fact that he clearly fails to see them as such. Whenever he leaves office, he will be the first president to whom an entire museum of memes can be dedicated. Yet there are those who hang on his every word and take it as gospel. Why else would there have been a spike in cases of disinfectant ingestion since his cringeworthy comments last week, which he has since sought to pass off as sarcasm? There are many who laugh at or scorn such devout followers yet fail to look in the mirror where they might discover the planks they need to remove from their own eyes.
Perhaps there will be time for that when the indeterminate state into which the country has descended since March 2 ends and end it must. After the last ballot is fairly counted, the tally completed and an announcement made, one would hope, finally, for gracious concession from the losing party. All of the ongoing drama is unnecessary and could have been avoided were it not for egos and power trips. The foundation of democracy is letting the people choose who will serve them, their votes, their choice.
