Dear Editor,
First, they said that a phantom thrived; a chuckle resulted. Then they said something about prolific, a wider smile came. With consistent crossings now from prolific to prodigious, everybody is up in arms. How can that be? Who is he? For the enlightenment of fellow Guyanese-all good people-I am still the same ole me. I wonder what would have been the conclusions if I used to share articles with the lustrous Guyana Chronicle, and the even more illustrious Guyana Times. Not mere monopolist, but transformation into Guyana’s first truly nationally syndicated columnist before receptive and rambunctious. But with no reaching to those media expanses, expressions of consternations come about why this contributor could be everywhere at the same time. For courtesy, I let my fellow Guyanese into a little secret. It is called the American work ethic. It is neither chic nor political antic nor partisan hysteric, but studying the terrain, and not liking what is seen. Com-mitment to speak to truth, deliver sunlight in darkened spaces.
Observations of Exxon’s Alistair Routledge running rings around my own people, doesn’t sit well. It is all about oil and how Guyanese toil for clarity, something to lift them from poverty. When they are hungry, I am angry. When they are made fools of-by foreigners, local political, and domestic private sector, schemers-I see red. Everybody sees green (Yankee dollar), I see red; think bulls and bullfighters. Incidentally, when I took the liberty of describing Guyanese as my people, SN was mischievous enough to caption a letter dispatched as throwing hat in the ring. That threw many into a tizzy. Is he serious? What could this mean? And since there are growing conclusions about political equation, the temptation comes. Come on, there is flesh and blood here, too.
Truthfully, if this is what it takes to get Guyanese going, and get the PPP and PNC all hot and sweaty with anxiety, then count me in. Remember those precious missing commodities: honesty, duty, country, family, not necessarily sequentially, and even though I say so myself. For those who wish to take it literally, I hear a rally. I found that aside irresistible. What becomes clearer is that Guyana’s politics is a barrel of fun, a load of laffs. Now, the real story behind all the discombobulations of PPP agitated must be put before the public. Nobody should care about man or contributor. But what is drilling a hole in their stomach starting from their esophagus is the sum of the messages and the substance of them. What pertained in times of yore still has its place today. The message not the messenger is what matters. Messengers fail.
To emphasize, it is the song, not the singer, that reverberates in the national psyche and pushes clearheaded and fair-minded Guyanese to slap themselves on the cheek: now why wasn’t that thought of, seen for what it is. Another secret is freely shared, so that fellow citizens (Guyanese, not Americans) could get a better appreciation of how the real world of primetime and time is money, work. Americans do their homework. They stra-tegize and rationalize and exercise almost every cell in their heads: how to get an edge, how to get ahead. Example, they had the goods on Desmond Hoyte and knew when to pounce at his weakest moment. For sure, they know the several loves of Bharrat Jagdeo, how to trap him first, and then use that against him and render speechless. When he contracted laryngitis of the lips and tendinitis of the tongue, I had no choice but to run to the rescue of Guyanese by developing sinusitis of the pen.
Now, it appears that every time an attack of writer’s hay fever arrives, then I have to give expression to sneezes of ink, and what causes others to run for cover. Though it may sound selfish, there is no undue concern with spreading some fresh germs around; it may catch on. Definitely, the people at Freedom House, Congress Place, and Exxon-Ville will sit up and take issue with their story being out on street. Guyanese may come across as tenderfoot people, but they also have a keen sense of when mischief is afoot. When anyone desires to see mischief firsthand, all they have to do is get an education about oil. I got a good one from the feet of the masters of the universe themselves, but am still learning. Every Guyanese should appreciate the free favours being delivered fairly frequently, so that they can be well-armed to do battle for their rights, oil superpower or no superpower. Compromised leaders, or worse. This is what compels such concerns. It is not about access, not even of me. The messages are what mek some Guyanese peeple tek worreez.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
