Dear Editor,
All who say that the PPP Government and leadership are struggling to locate moral compass and ethical level just got evidence of how wrong they have been. The government has shown that it can be bighearted. But now, there is a short stream of evidence on how listening and caring the government is, proving all the naysayers wrong, wrong, wrong.
First, the people in Region Nine spoke. Georgetown, we have a problem. The PPP Government made the people’s problem its problem. A previously approved mining permit that would have had an adverse impact on the community was disapproved in an instant. A minister whose portfolio is a mystery dropped everything and made the arduous journey all the way to Region Nine. Be done with this offending permit. Guyanese First! Government for the people. I am voting PPP. Any questions, anybody?
Second, there was the Melissa Atwell (Melly Mel) development in Louisiana by way of Brooklyn. Inferences, innuendoes, and interest in the government’s involvement were the order of the day. It is a bad day at Office of the President and the Attorney General Chambers, when the Guyana Constitution is looked at, and the government is left looking rather, ah, naked and depraved. The Guyanese who honours the grand office of attorney general just by his name being mentioned in the same sentence, Anil Nandlall, SC, MP went to work.
The PPP Government had nothing to do with Ms. Atwell’s detention. In this country, dunces are not elevated from seersucker to silk (senior counsel). Government hands are clean. If a proconsul as renowned as Anil Nandlall says the PPP Government’s hands are clean, then they are clean. Though doubts linger about its mouth and heart, its visions and ambitions, re the same Melly Mel, I roll the dice for the government. My vote is for Nandlall. Third, the government again did the right thing with, horror of horrors, a textbook for schoolchildren. It banned an offending textbook that attacked a ranking member of the indigenous community. Proactive government in action. Responsible government to setback all the critics who say that the PPP doesn’t know right from wrong. Who is wrong now? From which fertile mind that textbook sprang is now irrelevant.
What matters is that the PPP Government heard, it hunted down the spot of trouble, and hung it by the head and upside down also. The latter should be believed, because the refurbished PPP is showing that the laws of physics don’t have to be obeyed by its people. I like this reincarnation of the PPP Government. This is what is called government by the people. And though some sharpies may shout and scream, I am voting for guess who? Yes, I know, that is the third ballot cast. C’mon, real friends don’t make it a point of watching every move, and counting every action.
Fourth, just when everyone had given up on Big Boss Bharrat, I stood right by his side. I am a bridgebuilder; a contract comes in handy, helps buy ink and toner. I could use some new wheels. Talking of cars brings me to the GRA, duty-free, and the dirt dug up on the Mohamed family. According to the new gospel of Bharrat, the GRA has some answering to do. A Lamborghini and a Ferrari are too eye-catching and all too rare to pass under the GRA’s radars and turn its red flags green. Yeah, I know: sometimes I am too smart for my own good. I have less interest in knowing whether Bharrat is more interested in the possible losses to the nation’s bankbook, or is playing both sides of the street (talking from both sides of his mouth). What is of interest to me is that the former and still president (how that could be, don’t ask me) said that the GRA isn’t looking too well.
I challenge any Guyanese to disagree with me: that is clean and inspiring leadership. If that is not good governance, then nothing can ever be eligible for that accolade. I ask my fellow Guyanese not to be so crass as to spoil this moment and ask something vulgar. Like how I am going to vote, and for whom. It should be obvious by now, and I may be ready to do so as many times as is necessary. The logistics need to be worked out. Of course, there must be incentives. The PPP Government can’t play the pauper; not with all that no-confidence money that turned the tide. Plus, there is that good old Americanism to keep everyone honest. There is no free lunch. In place of lunch, I substitute vote. When there is good government, there’s good cause to rejoice.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
