Dear Editor,
Pontius Pilate’s profoundest of questions, “What is truth?” is what catapulted me to the article titled, “Azruddin Mohamed says rival gold businessman targeting him –‘why would I want to harm Fagundes” (SN August 18). Indeed, these are all questions about truth and justice and corruption and security playing out on the national stage. And when we have all circumnavigated the tricky and challenging globe of Guyana, there is returning to the same burning question: what is truth? And if any such thing does exist in this tortured land, who is speaking to truth, if any?
We have an alleged rivalry unfurling on the central public platforms in this country, and for the worst of reasons. As interpreted by me, it seems to be a bitter, hostile, and increasingly bellicose clashing of poisoned swords, and in the glare of the far-flung theater afforded by the 21st century. I wonder what the Americans think of all this. As I sift through this claim, and some ‘intel’ that filtered in my direction, this does appear to have grabbed the ear and attention (the hearts also) of the highest political officers of this nation. I want to say it is a full-fledged soap opera, with daily episodes developing, but I remind myself that a man died, while a nation watch transfixed and perplexed, as if victim of a powerful and actually working hex.
There is the President coming out of his confines to deliver the tantalizing. Witness protection for the whistleblower is a consideration, not off the table. The other side, the sometimes-unsaid side, of that jagged coin is that Sergeant Bascom is being alternately hailed as hero and damned as the devil. It comes down to connections, associations, and perversions, all as alleged. Somewhere in this already toxic and pungent brew, there is word, more like whispers, that potent overtures with folded fist have been made to other sections of the Guyana political duopoly. I mention that that folded fist is not the fabled Black Power salute of old, but one housing a different kind of power that purchases plenty influence and movement. The names named represent the cream of the curdled milk of Guyana’s political aristocracy.
If all of this passes the smell test, possesses some whiff of truth, then I can only conclude that the muddied waters of Guyanese politics and Guyanese leadership got impenetrably muddier. For here it is that the President is considering witness protection (signaling some credibility of contentions), and possibly more in the form of loyalty expressed for a faction favouring his presence. But, on the other hand, there are these other forces pulling another part of the local political directorate in an opposing direction. Which segment, which smidgen, of the above presented in much nuanced language adds up to any truth is anyone’s guess? Or wisdom and powers of detection.
Nevertheless, there are several truths in the sordid saga, which I firmly believe that even the rankest of PPP partisans will agree with me this one time. First, a man was gunned down just outside the President’s family perimeter. Second, it was no ordinary murder. Third, the ensuing sequence of events and developments point to, and confirm, the intellectual authorship and sponsorship of very powerful people of this country, since so much could have been removed, covered up, stonewalled, or buried, then resurrected for partial public scrutiny. There is work involved in figuring out what is red herring, who are seeing pink elephants, and why are all the white rabbits being pulled out of hats.
There is trouble in paradise, and it pits competing elements of the PPP hierarchy in a phony war against the other. Stay tuned, this ain’t over ‘til its over. Stated differently, we have only now just begun.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
