Dear Editor,
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty. What do Guyanese have for a government in this time of democracy and a commodity that draws the world to local shores? There is President Ali. Some voice in his head, perhaps a profusion of them, compels him to believe that whipping the Guyanese people publicly, delivering verbal broadsides, is accountability, fosters liberty. There is bad news for the president. There are some citizens who aren’t intimidated, chastised. The more energy expended to batter citizens into submission, the more there is a revolution of the spirit. Excellency Ali may derive psychic joy from his now growing record of tirades. But to what purpose, sir?
The Guyanese people want to know, need-to-know, where their oil money is going, how spent. It doesn’t involve taking a dollar and accounting for every one of its hundred cents. For that could be “very difficult” as the Vice President, Dr. Jagdeo, informed whoever listens to him. Whatever the level of disclosure that should be, the president and his government must figure out the arithmetical and structural requirements for such transparency to occur. I suggest that a little ethical inclination would be a priceless factor.
So, when Guyana’s head of state feels it necessary to take to social media to vent his spleen, he does not impress. Most embarrassingly, he ridicules himself. No critic, no citizen, not anyone interpreted to be an undesirable, is cowed or corrected. What is seen is a national leader trying his best to keep a lid on what goes on in the oil sector. And the tattered state of the transparency and accountability of which he spoke so brightly about at the National Cultural Center, four August moons ago. What is seen is a president doing a number on himself. What is heard is the thunder of a barrel rolling downhill. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.
President Ali is due for some commendations. He had his choice, and he decided that tyranny works best for the cards he holds. Some issues and developments are worthy of defending, may gain some admiration, no matter how lost the cause. When there is nothing to defend, however, nothing but ground that reveals its monstrous deformities, then silence is the best recommendation.
Or, of course, a practice of self-correction. For the president, I have reserved this humble morsel. All the social media diatribes, all the blustering and attempts at browbeating those who stand up and speak up, only makes matters worse. They expose his half-slip that becomes a full slip.
It is better to make a genuine effort to fix than to reach for a sledgehammer to flay away. The choice of weapon, and its weight, does say something about how vulnerable the president and his government are to honest scrutiny. From a small handful of disagreeable citizens now damned as possessing “convenient consciences.”
It is inspiring that Guyana’s First Citizen is familiar with that word -conscience. I take the liberty of reminding him, of hopefully not introducing him to another: character.
For some icing from history, I share a tidbit from another time. In 1980s Wall Street, it was a time of grand free-for-all festivities, and there was something called a Predator’s Ball. When the party was over, and the lights went down, what was holding up the pretense collapsed into an ignominious heap. Some ended up in jail, a few committed suicide to elude their disgrace. In Guyana, I hear, read, of these great balls, one grand one in particular. Due to my regard for family, all I will say in the public is that this should not be. Not when hundreds of thousands of Guyanese are lining up, waiting to collect $100,000 to help them manage temporarily the tide of their affairs. There is ignorance and arrogance, and when there’s the intemperance to project both, the result is the kind of disturbance that now reigns so broadly.
It was another national leader who has made darkness his home, who incited his crowd of likeminded to use social media to take the fight to enemies. He was slick enough to condition his instigation that they stay within bounds. It was for the records only. Unfortunately, that memo was filed away, apparently didn’t make it to President Ali’s desk. Presidents owe a duty to the people. Both the friendly and the disbelieving (hostile) must be met with equanimity. In case the president forgot, it is how democracy is supposed to work. Yes, I know. There is the textbook, then there is the environment and ugly reality.
All these sweet presidential and other political speeches, yet the people in this society get sicker, sour. There is a better way, Mr. President. A soft word turns away wrath. When it’s saturated throughout with honesty and simple decency, there is confirmation that the right path is chosen. When a president fears the people, somebody somewhere has done something terribly wrong.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall