Not a day passes in this wonderful land that the great and small do not take place in some elaborately crafted fashion. For now there is this riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, as Sir Winston would have described what happened. What we have now is this Great PNC building demolition mystery. For the sake of overall group and national tranquility, I hope that it doesn’t deteriorate into another of those cold cases that remains suspiciously warm to the touch. The story has taken some surprising twists and turns, which I peer past to see if I could end up with a party of interest.
Right off the bat, the PPP said that the building is not the PNC’s, but belongs to the State. It is the equivalent of a man starting off by singing bawdy songs in a solemnly mourning wake house. Why even go there? Was that really necessary, considering the rawness and abruptness of still developing overnight circumstances, also still smoldering? Nevertheless, in a blink, the PNC’s counter came. Not so fast, it is ours, has been for donkey years, and the proof is available. Somebody has something wrong here, and it is not I, folks. As Friday crept towards the murk of twilight that world-class Guyanese figure of more murkiness and mystery, the Hon Vice President came out of the woodwork with a regal declaration in a manner that Queen Victoria would have been primly proud. According to the Vice President, don’t look at the PPP Government, don’t even think of trying to pin that tail on this turtle. Since the People’s Progressive Party and the PPP Government are one and the same, then my conclusion is that the Vice President is signaling something: both party and government are free of taint. By process of arithmetic, this only leaves three suspects standing.
First, there are those demolition men, who could have been acting on their own, as hard as that is to digest. This is notwithstanding their work relationship and that up the ladder linkage to the heights in this country. Let me say this differently: it is largely one kind of people, with one kind of affiliation that comes into these levels of business results with taxpayer dollars doing the trick. Those kinds of relationships inspire untroubled entities to engage in dirty tricks, if only to prove themselves, on occasion. Who could connect dots to whom then? But, this is where the current trail grows skimpy. There is the beauty of ‘plausible deniability’ which I think was what all Guyana just heard from the highest place in this land, the VP. Sticking around for some more with the destroyers of the PNC property and peace, I confess to falling short on a major and sensitive score. Why would men with sledgehammers and other wrecking tools even bother to cart away PNC paperwork in the middle of the night, as in its record of membership and other such sundries, like objections? I mean people are constantly short, but nobody is that short in Guyana (as yet) to stoop to pilfering paper. Now things are looking up, and they don’t look too favourably in the direction of Lacytown.
I could understand the 11 barrels of stuff containing basics, but to remove PNC membership records, and objections, takes the cake. Is somebody kidding? So, now I think that my whittling away at this demolition haze has brought me to two places, neither of which will be looked upon favourably in some circles. I point a first finger at possibly rogue elements in the ruling PPP acting on their own, who could be the covert intellectual authors of this deplorable and unpardonable act. If that sounds like the American Embassy, then it is a new and dubious honour with which to live. Concerning rogue PPP elements (the wink and nod variety), I offer the Vice President this pass: he may pretend to not have ownership, but something is still sticking stubbornly.
So, who is left, after all this sifting through the pile of wood, the bigger piles of missing paper, and scorched feelings? As hard as this is to put in the public domain, I still am duty bound to upstairs to do so. There is only the PNC. If everyone else claims clean hands and innocence, by default, there is only the PNC left with eyes fixed on it. What could it be up to, if the cap fits? If help is needed, I recommend a PPP Government minister, who has a well-earned reputation in the demolition field; I suggest seeking some expert help from him to get to the bottom of this Great PNC building demolition mystery.
I leave these three gifts for Guyanese. When the dominant PPP advances, it does not walk back. Second, I discern hurried diplomatic overture: going too far. Last, the PNC has reoccupied the building, its version of a line drawn in the sand.
