Dear Editor,
As can be gathered from my public contributions, I have tried for temperateness relative to the jarring clashes involving elections movements. From chair to processes to dates, I admit it has been a struggle-to remain optimistic amidst the theatrics of the occasion. This is while insisting and exhorting getting to that place differently (in one piece and with civility intact) where everyone insists that we must get to with our unchanging present outlooks, despite what awaits. I must persevere, despite the latest existential rattles to come, with what promises to be the mother of all battles: the claims and objections process.
As references, I am using the coverages of SN, KN, and Demerara Waves on the cessation of house to house registration and progressing to the impending cauldron of claims and objections. From the little that I read, a cauldron it is going to be. Without any great insight or effort, I heard it, I sensed it, and I smelled it from this early date. If we thought a chair was problematic, and house to house controversial, then I say: we aint see nuthin yet.
Through the guarded language of the commissioners from both sides, I could detect the warning shots of the fusillades sure to come. How can it not be? Because as vital as the selection of a trusted chair was, and termination of a hated registration process was, both fade into nothingness before the alpha and omega of the final viable, eligible, acceptable list. I acknowledge that they (chair, registration, and list) are all interrelated. But make no mistake, the list is about who is going to cast tout whom. That is, to cast a ballot to cast out a deeply troubled government; or to cast out of contention a distrusted, if not deplored, opposition.
The claims and objections period is to hammer out the hidden bends (they are many); purge the dangerous cells (they are threatening); and eradicate uncertainties (they are to be isolated and neutralized). This is going to be one granddaddy of a dirty fight. I anticipate the spectacle of a circus well attended and at full volume.
I don’t have to weigh at length the sparse, but careful, offerings of government and opposition commissioners assigned to Gecom. It is not necessary to repeat them today. But this I will say: they warn of a no-holds barred, claw and fang, junkyard brawl. Get ready, Guyana! I did say that personal optimism (recklessly, if not foolishly) continues to prevail within me. From my perspective, already way beyond the claims and objections storms that come next, I am concerned as to what shape, and of what mind, the peoples of this society emerge from what is sure to be a bruising battle, a fearsome political clash of wills.
If I may be pardoned, and with emphasis on the clinical in me, all of this is intriguing and exciting, as well as a grand learning experience as to the lengths that man will go. Lengths to gain the upper hand for the greatest of prizes: dominance. The trouble is that while the principals (egged on by their corners) duke matters out in the scramble for any advantage, citizens are sure to not escape unscathed. Most citizens will not be the same, but passionately worse than before, which was bad enough.
No element, no moment, no component-major or minor-is going to be without headbutting and body-slamming at varying levels and many places. The obvious is retold. The problem and concern lead to this point: the condition in which we will be-mentally, psychologically, and emotionally-ill equips us to progress past completed and finalized elections as anything resembling one. One nation. One something. One anything.
I envision that we will be so battered, tattered, and shattered that, regardless of who wins, all loses. This started earlier, it continues today, it gathers strength as claims and objections, and polls, and results are made official. I repeat: regrettably, I do not foresee better days ahead. Almost everyone watches, wants, and waits for each outcome leading to the great climax: the result of the count, as if their very life depended on it.
This is the worst way possible to ready to greet our coming, and newly heralded, status as the richest people on earth. Remember: unless by some miracle, there is the good sense to work things out differently, everybody loses.
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
