Dear Editor,
It is inconceivable that the once, and sometimes still, heralded institutions of attorney general and the presidency can fall farther, sink lower. Whither values and standards? Whither character and dignity and that now unknown something called self-respect? Whither has all of this fled right before our eyes and ears?
At different times, at many levels, and in unimagined ways pathetic caricatures of men and worse specimens of ranking (and rank) political representatives have urinated and defecated on the consciousness of this nation, then on its intelligence, last on its sanity.
First, they display publicly an incredible obscenity of character replete with damning lies, absence of integrity, and a substantial affinity with the gutter. All of this is then justified through stratagems reeking with further falsehoods and contrivances utterly devoid of either credibility or persuasiveness.
The practised lies, the quarter-truths, the microscopic hairsplitting all roll off forked tongues with the ease of street professionals furnishing convenient cover stories as to why they are turning tricks. Or seasoned con artists in full uninhibited verbal flow.
This is officialdom in Guyana today, first at the elected level, and then in the supporting cast of selected factotums. It has been this way for a while now, and deteriorates daily, episodically. Life is so sweet, so opulent, so rewarding that craven men will do anything (anything!) to stay on the overflowing gravy train. It does bring incalculable richness, as was stated. But official life is also fraught with so much distrust and uncertainty that leaders will bend forwards and backwards (and naked, too) to accommodate. Friends and comrades of today must be kept close, if only to keep an eye on them and protect them from themselves. The extent of possible fallout is unknown and to be feared. Satyadeow Sawh comes to mind. There is no need to provoke the fury of the jilted and jettisoned. Why create severe unease among the faithful on setting undesired precedent, of going in a new direction? Why?
Thus a nation stands demoralized and self-imprisoned in a morass of misgivings, psychological paralysis, and excruciating emotional fears.
In the meantime, loud and chronically sick men slither on their bellies and crawl on their faces; they do so in attempts to disguise, to sanitize, and to mislead even further. Regrettably, society is also besmirched in the unending ugly sprawl of misconduct. And institutions, once representative of something, no matter how elusive or undefined, now are tarred and disgraced beyond recognition, perhaps beyond the curative.
Twist or turn, blabber, or shout, or scream this is what political Guyana has become. Maybe all of Guyana is this way, too.
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
