Dear Editor,
Soon, the first hundred days of the new presidency would be over. By the usual standards it has been a most impressive period. There has been the near total absence of anyone manifesting anything remotely resembling the sagacious; the resettling into new ministerial homes of misfits and others; the continued lame-brain rationalizations of the irrational: Synergy and Motilall, GuySuCo and legal fees, the Commissioner of Police and his retention in office (“It was consensual, as I understand”), and a fresh rain of secret deals acidic to the welfare of this society. Through all of this, the President has excelled at wrapping himself in a mantle of silence. He is going to need lots more cloth.
But he did break his silence, on occasion, with patented sound bites perfected behind the scenes. In the beginning, there was the usual orphaned, meaningless call to unity. This was not long after followed by parliamentary chatter, shrill and non-persuasive, of not being held to ransom. In reality, it was a soggy straw to comfort the worried faithful, and even more distressed bureaucratic and parliamentary ones. Then, there was the exhumation of those terrifying ghosts of elections past: rigging, intimidation, threats of violence, and race. It was a pathetic attempt through coded words to once ethnic loyalists (now fence-sitters and election absentees) of the error of their ways. See, what you have caused! Get ready as more lowdown music is on the way; only this time the dirty dancing – and wine-down – is performed by others. The new man preferred the expanse of heaving verbal obesity, when well defined political muscle tone is now the order of the day.
Additionally, the new big man is not above testing the waters, as he did through the deployment of his financial underling to the floor, who turns out to be a weakling the moment he encounters the slightest hint of resistance. The man makes a spectacle of himself before the microphones because the other fellows refused to sign his blank cheque (s). The brave new world of accountability and transparency appears to have arrived, and all these putty Napoleons can do is cry over the pending exposure of their perversities.
While on this matter of stealing and cheating, the party has to be aware that a segment of its voter base stood down because of the rampant and brazen corruption, both perceived and real. Yet, the President and General Secretary has said absolutely nothing on this score, if only to soothe disgusted supporters. On corruption, he has become a sumo champion of silence: broad, immovable, and gutsy. In fairness, it must be noted that the HPS did speak in passing of “financial irregularities,” as identified on a now almost daily basis. It is just another day in these first days of nothingness, where the HPS’ fleecy smoke clouds his own mirrors.
As for those who were hopeful, even desperate, to see opportunities for change and renewal at hand, there was never any such intentions. Now the time has come to be rid of those pipe dreams and recognize reality for what it really is.
If the first hundred days are any indication, the new leader has signalled his determination to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor in most respects. Except that he may do so in a more restrained and possibly civilized manner. As his near continuous silences on matters of substance so powerfully attest – he does know his limitations, and is smart enough to lie low.
In parting, it must be stated that the President could have spared us all his understanding about consensual sex involving the nation’s COP. In so doing, he did lay bare a profound shallowness with regard to substance, issue, appearances, responsibilities, and high ethics. It is insulting to accept that this is the level to which the nation has sunk. If this is the first hundred days, then God help us for the rest that are ahead. Quite possibly, He himself may have thrown in the towel a while back.
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
