Dear Editor,
Whatever the normal definition of ‘normalcy’ might be, it lacks meaning and application in Guyana’s political context. For clearly the ruling PPP has its own immovable ideas of what such ‘normalcy’ means, or should mean. And unless all else is bent and willing to conform to the party’s standard and rigid mould of this latest fallacy called ‘normalcy,’ then nothing doing. Nothing doing, unless under the fateful circumstances of extreme prejudice and duress are impressed upon its consciousness.
Here it is that for three years, the political and social rancour, the sturdy disagreements raged almost continuously. Here it is now that the same Head-of-State, who stood high and wide, and implacably so in non-assent after non-assent, speaks blandly and disingenuously of ‘normalcy’ while proceeding with this self-serving moratorium on parliamentary process. Using Cromwellian language, Guyana is not the PPP, but obviously the PPP sees itself (and itself alone) as Guyana, and that is that. Because of this, nothing else matters in the twisted thinking of the governing party, as best embodied in the latest posture and words of the President himself. Further, here it is that after frequent closed door, one-on-one, heart-to-heart parleys nothing of anything meaningful was produced. But yet the nation is presented with this rhetorical mirage, this rhetorical jumbie identified as the pursuit of ‘normalcy.’ Something has to be seriously wrong in all of this. If such could not have been achieved then in a less pressurized, less confrontational atmosphere, how is this going to be realized now? Surely, games are being played, and not for the benefit of citizens.
I see this as yet another example of the continuing obsession, if not sickness, with the retention of power at all costs and by any means, if only for months. Now if this is submitted to meekly, then it can only be the cowardly swallowing of more spittle hurled in the face of society. In all of this jockeying for extending power, consolidating power, sharing in power, the Guyanese people do not count, as the bartering and horse trading assumes new dimensions and is finalized. For all intents and purposes, they are non-existent, which should be made to be the final insult.
So a nation hangs suspended, which it has been to some extent in the last three years. Its processes have been neatly and conveniently bypassed to satisfy the whims and ambitions of men crass beyond description and recognition. I watch to gauge the reaction of the opposition. As time is bought by the ruling party, and contingencies activated to either prepare or cover tracks, an increasingly resentful and surly nation watches, too. Patience has petered out; understanding has taken a holiday; and tolerance has already shed any semblance of normalcy that once might have been present. Troubling times are ahead, are promised.
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
