Dear Editor,
The stark tableau of Leonora has unfolded before the reading Guyanese public. In many senses, the sinister and ominous nature of what is now rooted in Leonora is bigger than that once quaint village, as big as Guyana. A different sharing is presented this day, and it says so much of where Guyana is, of what Guyanese have become. With attention continually directed at the fearsome waves of nocturnal sounds spiraling out of that neighborhood, the objective is to place these first on the heads of three leading men in Guyana. President Irfaan Ali (of Leonora), Vice President Jagdeo and Attorney General Nandlall, he of the law and order, and respect for both, then a whole lot more. In the second instance, it is a simple reminder of the moral and ethical frailty, that timidity of conscience, which inhibits Guyanese from standing for anything, even when a rum-shop pummels one of their own.
The visible and vocal victim is Citizen Jai Lall. He is the one speaking and writing for other residents of Leonora. It could be said that he has President Ali’s long-ago linkages at heart. Taking this farther afield, Mr. Jai Lall also articulates the torments of Guyanese battered by noise invasions across the hamlets and hearths in Berbice, Essequibo, and Georgetown. Mr. Jai Lall, the bruised citizen, has had a few media backers, which is encouraging. More conspicuously, Mr. Jai Lall the writer, in support of President Ali and PPP Government causes, has had not one PPP stalwart to pick up the cudgels publicly and stand by his side in this the time of an ongoing ordeal. There is not a question about Mr. Jai Lall’s loyalty, the longevity of it, nor the continuity of it. But there he is, like Horatio at Leonora Bridge and his comrades have all abandoned him in his hour of need, of hurt. As a matter of village pride, President Ali should have; in terms of the law, AG Nandlall should have delivered. Honour-able lieges: distance and inaction belittle the offices held, despoil claims to strength, leadership purity. The suggestion is then extended to former President Jagdeo that it is time he looks inwards and make a genuine effort to get his head in order. So that it ordered towards what is good for Guyana, all Guyanese.
Regarding the obscene silence of brothers and comrades, this is not how a trusted fellow traveler should be treated when he is on the ropes. Perhaps, the indifference may be understood if it were a PNC citizen (this is what Guyanese have been reduced to in the place of their birth, PNC or PPP citizens). Mr. Jai Lall has been a faithful foot soldier, and his media works stand as incontestable testimony re his loyalty. The silence, the nonchalance, the somnolence, of those who are usually so proud and so bold to express their political intellect and integrity stands as an indictment handed down against them all. From president to pontificator to prognosticator, the wires have seized up, now rot with all that is wrong about this society. People are afraid to speak, to write, for a noble cause, for a man and a community under siege. A more cowardly, pathetic set of people may be hard to find. Is a job going to be in jeopardy? Is a contract promised sure to be yanked? Is standing as a known quantity lose some luster from the president and former president? When the fear of being marked men trumps all, then those who settle for that psychic satisfaction just marked themselves in ignominy. When a friend, a comrade, a villager, overwhelmed and pummeled by a tide of noise cannot be stood for in unflinching determination, then what does one stand for, if anything at all? Are all those PhDs reading? Where is the AG? And while at it, how about HE Ali?
Some things should not happen to a dog. But they have been hurled at a man in Leonora. It may be the freedom of choice that democracy empowers towards uncontrolled, riotous revelry. But the case can be made that there is that subtle degree of autocracy that weighs on the minds of men and make mental maggots of them, which they accept as the price that must be paid to stay in the favour of those who see all and know everything. Where are the friends? What about the protectors and upholders of the law? Guyanese: stop being mice; start being men.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall