Dear Editor,
I took a trip out of town to Parliament – only that when the President is present remember pedants – to renew my impressions from years ago. It has got better. Only just the TV part of it was woeful. One camera wandering all over the place, framing dreadful. You saw the speaker and his backcloth and the people walking behind it. The Pres. had no autocue so viewers only saw the top of his head as he read the three and a half hour (!) speech. Parliament TV could and should do better.
It’s the outside that is most interesting in these situations. A car park rammed with duty free SUVs. There was even a space reserved for the Culture Minister. Security tight but I got to the lobby without once showing ID. The media knew their place – in a tent far away from the main action. The hon members arrived in dribs and drabs. Some huffing and puffing their way up the stairs. Then the bells to summon them – just like at school. Speaker Manzoor Nadir – a former shop steward for mini bus operators opened the session in a flashy white suit and quoted Shakespeare (Whatever next). The opposition seated in the first session like lambs to the slaughter, turkeys waiting for Xmas, or not. After that session time for a comfort break and a fag.
Oh to be a fly on the wall of the Gents. Le tout Cabinet visited. It was a well-trodden path, I spotted the PM, the ministers of finance, oil, business, public works and foreign (both) all desperate for a wee. Some taking time off from opening roads and fighting the culture warriors. And the add-ons too. Peter Ramsaroop still on crutches but no snakes and ladders power-point to be seen. Gerry Gouveia looked older and less on top. The Guyana power elite in one place,
Then it was back for the main act – Irfaan Ali playing Santa Claus with the oil money. $200,000 per household here, 50% off electricity there and free UG for all. His pre-Xmas bag was full. I am told he talked for three and a half hours. The many advisers should edit any speech to an hour max, Put the detail in a handout/release. You need a strong bladder and a comfy cushion for an Irfaan speech…
I had to be elsewhere so took my leave passing through the small ‘mass demo’ of PNC supporters joined now by their comrade leader. All with badly hand written signs. Perhaps with the $200k Ali Xmas present next time they can afford to print the protest. All in all a ceremony of pomp and some circumstance with the message carried badly to the nation inside and outside the Arthur Chung centre. I was (nearly) glad I went.
Sincerely,
John ‘Bill Cotton/Reform’ Mair
