Dear Editor,
Thanks to the learned Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, SC, there is this brouhaha under the cover of public policy. I absorbed what Mr. Tim Jonas, SC, weighed in with re public policy, and I think that it is time that another SC is allowed to add his two cents. The SC in this instance is in lower case. Senior citizen, and that’s me reporting for duty.
Anybody, from the AG to Timothy and others in between, can pronounce upon what public policy is. Or isn’t. Mr. Nandlall has his ideas, and what he holds out as public policy has an eerie resemblance to party policy, even the personal policy of one very political creature that almost never stands still, is always skulking around in darkness. I urge Guyanese to rule out President Ali, for it is obvious that he has other interests, a slew of different priorities. Those who wish to be impressed with noise have that as a constitutional right. I exercise my right to think. Public policy, what is this baby that is causing so much uncertainty. Look, I didn’t spend all those decades in one classroom after another to haul out and regurgitate what some wise man or woman, such as a perspicacious jurist, great historical figure, or sublime literary authority had to say and left for others to discover and get all excited about. What the hell do I have a head for, some still functioning brain cells. After all the learning, why is there still the need to reach for what others think, and then think through their lens? Not I, sire. So, what is this animal called public policy?
It is what the people in charge at any specific time say that it is. Short, simple, sweet. Mr. Nandlall may dig up and rollout all the great craftsmanship of others, but what does he think (by himself), what is he all about (from deep within himself)? The government’s position, as articulated so volubly and a little too brightly by the esteemed Anil Nandlall, is that it knows of what the other jurisdictions have carved out and settled as their position in the American oil people and the Venezuelan oil company tussle over some money. For reasons known only to itself, the PPP Government then went out on a limb of its own on this one, a limb that separates it from such iconic polities and realms as the US, the UK, the Netherlands, and the sister locations of Trinidad and Jamaica. In normal times, I would give a big hand for this maverick move by the PPP Govern-ment. According to the AG, public policy had something to do with this curious new design, so suddenly and strangely gifted to the Guyanese people. Public policy had a serene chorus to it. Impressive in substance and persuasive in that it can mean so much, but only of which Mr. Nandlall has the erudition to unravel. Since public policy is now more than the new kid in town, and much like the alpha and omega of what the Guyana (PPP) Government is all about, I crave indulgence to share some more. The rambunctious part of me is not pleased with “crave indulgence” so I take that back and demand it.
Now that there is this segue for sanctuary inside the tent of public policy, I will deliver a suggestion to Mr. Nandlall and his patriotic government. Why not a Guyana First policy? Why not an inviolable Guyana Sovereignty policy that facilitates, nay empowers, this country to take a stand for itself, supersedes and vanquishes all challengers? Why not cut through this convenient thicket of sanctity of contract and stand on sovereign feet, with that as supreme national policy, Mr. Nandlall? Since there is distancing and going its own way by the PPP Govern-ment with that Int’l Court of Commerce award under the standard of public policy, I think that some fortitude (yes, that same anatomical kind) could be found to draw a line across the face of commercial culture and practice and assert that this is Guyana’s public policy. I point to that heinous contract that blights Guyana’s existence. After all, this was the position that the government just took in the ConocoPhillips v. PDVSA matter. I close. Public policy is like that ethereal construct called beauty. It depends on what is in the mind of the beholder. Summation: a peasant presents a donkey with a bell in its nose as a giraffe and he is mocked. But a warrior prince delivers that same donkey now in high heels and calls it public policy, he is hailed.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
