We can never heal if we are dishonest about our history. The same prisons that held us for decades will not degenerate, but instead will remain to delude us into thinking that these are places where we can find comfort. They will expand to accommodate our wealth of suffering and delusion. Why lie about the path we have trod? Why must untruths emanate from the seats of power about Guyana’s plight? When the world knows the truth, why attempt to erase the past or deem it irrelevant? Convenient lies can only comfort us for so long. Like a well waiting to overflow contaminated waters or a volcano waiting to erupt, in the long run the damage might be irreversible. But perhaps these phenomena have already occurred, and we are existing in a state of contamination and disaster.
I had to remind myself about what extra-judicial killings are when President Irfaan Ali rejected claims that the killing of Orin Boston indicated a return of extrajudicial killings or that Guyana has a history of such activities.