Dear Editor,
It is time to look ahead. When all the talking, writing, and skirmishing about prorogation and return to parliament (The Short Parliament) are exhausted, there is one road that remains, with one destination and a single inevitability – elections. Then what? With what turbulent processes implemented and stark, perilous realities ensuing? Again, then what?
Whenever it is decided to make the date official – January is in the portents and money – I envision and I believe that the existing hard incompatibilities, through rhetorical flameouts and naked tribal appeals and even more naked passions, will bloom into full flower and display. Some of this is already in motion: check the state owned and state associated media. This is what is known and what will be resorted to, since the stakes are so high, the atmosphere too ready to be charged, and the consequences of losing too terminal to be acceptable.
It is my belief that the next election is highly likely to be the worst and nastiest in local history. This encompasses from run-up, to the actual event, to the aftermath. For losing means that a lot of people could lose a lot: assets and liberty are at the top of the list. It could come to represent involuntary, if not irreversible political demise for one side. Further, it could mean that losing means having nothing left to lose. That is dangerous all around, and for everyone. Thus the incentives are there to stay in power, or grasp at power; so is the will. Yes, the stakes could not be higher.
Now given that the numbers lock the contestants in a tight embrace, with no definitive winner a high probability, does this society have the patience and tolerance for more minority governance? I think not. But this is what the numbers promise: no clear-cut victor. That is an occurrence and a problem lived with currently, which needs no further elaboration. So how about partnership and National Front and national this or that? Is this the panacea for tired, disgusted, even scared Guyanese? To ask and answer, I say no, loudly, even stridently! All that this accomplishes is the buying of time and breathing space, expanding the rapacious cabal, and experiencing more of the same disillusioning story of the last several decades. However, a National Front government can be meaningful, but only if it is peopled by a significant number of citizens who are outside the existing pantheon of parliamentarians, and those on the parties’ candidates lists. For there to be some smidgen of success, of honesty, if not traction, then there must be substantial involvement of people from outside of the tried and failed, from beyond the self-centred and the tarnished.
If this is not so, then at the end of the day, after all the brutishness and ugliness, the ordinary Guyanese will be the loser, and condemned to a tortured exacting existence, an unlivable one. For whether fanatical follower or mere supporter, observer or commentator, all are in the crosshairs and all are trapped in the looming crossfire. There are no innocent bystanders, all are involved. The tools are available, and in view of how recent words and actions can be characterized so is the determination to overcome adversaries, even it produces a Pyrrhic result.
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
