Dear Editor,
Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton came into that important and crucial office with many expectations hanging over his head. Because of the nuanced, but hard and demanding nature of this leadership job, I thought it timely to conduct this little evaluation of Mr. Norton’s still short tenure at the top of his group.
His head has to be heavy, filled with whispers, if not clear sounds, of his supporters asking what he is really about. There were and still are rich expectations that Mr. Norton is the kind of leader to put a stop to the PPP express train. It is a train that has inflicted considerable damage in its travels. My understanding is that some disillusionment has started to creep into the conversations of opposition supporters, some disquiet among opposition watchers, and some heaving ideas in those of a more radical bent. In terms of the latter, heaving boils down to this tense crossroad: is Mr. Norton the man to rise to the occasion?
I think he has his work cut out for him. Expectations were abundant, yet his room to maneuver is so limited, the resources at his disposal, a project beginning to get off the ground. Mr. Norton has made ‘mobilize and organize’ vital components of his longer-term strategy and plans for the always rocky ground of Guyana. I think he also has to incentivize and galvanize; my thinking is that the two feed from each other. For to galvanize, something different than what Mr. Norton has embodied and projected has to start to take shape. I detect that his people are watching and waiting for a harder line, a tougher course, of action. It is a tightrope fraught with possibilities, but also one littered with peril, which any miscalculation could come back to haunt. Mr. Norton’s challenges are many, and they are formidable.
My continuing sense is that the internal dynamics of the opposition is still a work in progress. This is putting a feathery touch on raw circumstances. The AFC just raised its hand -it is out. The Americans are keen to every move made by Mr. Norton, and their vigilance has to do with what could be. That is, what jeopardizes American interests in Guyana, and to head off before issues come to a fateful precipice. It is why the American Ambassador seizes the opportunity to pound a consistent message: inclusion. More inclusion means there is far from enough of it. President Ali and his people may delight in broadcasting their ‘One Guyana’ slogan, but it looks battered when the American Ambassador keeps up her chorus about inclusion. Like Guyanese naysayers, the Ambassador is a truthteller.
This is in Mr. Norton’s favour, but is also the bottom of a snake pit. An insufficiency of inclusion can only fuel his narratives, postures, and energies. In the next instance, he moves too aggressively with the opening it presents and the baby party can break up too abruptly, tensely. One of the clouds which Mr. Norton operates under is that since he first met with the resident US Ambassador, he has not emerged as the same man. Too constrained. Too careful. Too circumspect. It seems that the original man lost some of his luster, definitely his muscular buff. He must overcome that perception.
One of the biggest areas in which this solidified encircles that fatted pig that Guyana has by the ocean. Petroleum, the firstborn of oil. Mr. Norton did not come out swinging in the long first days of his earliest months. To his credit, he has since been vocal and insistent about where Guyanese should be with this incredible endowment. The logic and arithmetic are uncomplicated, viz., more for Guyana, translates to more for Guyanese, which should include his people. Now this brings to the PPP Government.Mr. Norton’s political adversary is cunning. The thinking is that he has not pressed the PPP Government hard enough. I agree.
Last, there is this business about the voters list and bloat, with the PPP’s position clearest: inclusion of all. Yet, there is this perversity of almost half of Guyana consistently excluded, shortchanged, punished, and pushed around when public funds are involved. I wouldn’t participate in any (any) elections, and give legitimacy to what is bloated. Mr. Norton must decide. He participates, or passes; result is the PPP creeps closer to its Holy Grail of total control.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall