Dear Editor,
I observe the developments in Buxton and shake my head. We never seem to learn and adjust; at least, the PPP Government does not, past ones, and this one too. The lesson that is taking center stage again is that when politics overtakes governance, then a Buxton with tires and fires, and what has been experienced before emerge.
When a sitting government settles for schemes that bind it to what is known to be extracurricular, then the extraordinary usually follows. I do not mean that this unfolds in a good way. To bolster this little point, I refer my fellow citizens to that harrowing time in Guyanese life, when men were engaged and given free rein to employ any tactics on the ground that suited their calculations and caprices. What started out as supposedly lawful soon deteriorated into the extralegal. Those employed by the State, or since recruited by it, were clever enough to use the carte blanche given to clear away human obstacles, and then to run their own rackets.
They were hailed as crime fighters, only for them to turn out to be conspirators, traffickers, operators, even murderers. The mysteries about them – dead or surviving – still abound. One thing is undeniable, most, if not all, of them accumulated great wealth, special standing, and heroic status. They were alternately feared and hailed. As we all know, matters did not end well, with revelations reaching all the way into the US Consulate, and particular arms of Guyana’s governance apparatus.
Now fast forward to this day, and history is on the move again. As usual, all that history is doing is retracing its timeworn steps. Programs and monies and embrace have all been part of today’s mix, as initiated by the PPP Government in different communities. These communities have a common heritage, a known record, an ancient political bond. I offer places like Agricola, Werk-en-Rust, and Buxton; there are others. Instead of the PPP working diligently to engage the PNC, it has manifested a settled strategy as its preference, and which is now its unmoving modus operandi. Deal with controllers in the hood, and bypass everyone else, particularly the legitimate.
When others who are beyond the pale, and have accumulated reputations of a certain kind, are dealt with in selected locales, then it is all but inevitable that the Buxton development of February 1, 2023 takes place. I interpret as a shot across the bow. It is notification of who calls the shots, and how they make that known in no uncertain terms. Message delivered, and it is call of the dogs of the State. Guyanese have an old saying, which talks about dogs and fleas, and what happens to those who lie down with them. Barnacles attach, and they don’t brush off easily.
Editor, I don’t know how this one is going to be passed on to the PNC. Or in what form the damage control is going to exhibit itself. My thinking is simple:
continue going down this road involving divide and diminish, with intent to dominate, and it will backfire. Men get ideas, and they are mostly not lawful; the enduring tranquility of near and extended communities are stressed.
I urge recalling of a man who died in a hail of fire in a hotel complex in Eccles, another by some Falls, another supposedly on the Linden Highway. This is not crime fighting or deterrent. It is of political skullduggery, be it under the cloak of national security, or well-intended rehabilitation. Bottom line: unless we engage and communicate, then we deteriorate. And no volume of presidential pontification, or ministerial machinations, (or Opposition considerations) are going to sway that tide. Tying the same old bundles lead only to the same ugly results.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall