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By GHK Lall
I have gone out of my way to warn the PPP Government’s movers and shakers, even begged them. Do the business of this country right, and there is no need for worry, no necessity to dance around or hide from issues. What is conspicuous is that, given the government’s machinations and manipulations, the more that it tries to untangle itself from the webs weaved, the more its people entangle themselves.
I do the Hon Vice President of Guyana, Dr. Bharat Jagdeo, another favor. Do not think, VP, that by giving Exxon the freest of free passes that that gives blanket immunity from American agitations over the many things being done wrong here, going wrong here. I write not of the chronic corruptions plaguing governance in Guyana, and as condoned by PPP top brass. Americans are unhappy about that, but that is all there is to it. For corruptions, though chronic and criminal, do not necessarily tamper with stability, continuity, and tranquility, the elements dear to American business profitability in Guyana. Indeed, it is worrying that only one segment of Guyana’s demographic (the top layer mostly) benefits from such crimes, but that is a Guyanese problem best left to them to sort out among themselves. What deeply worries Americans is the sum of practices that threaten American interests, American influence, and American control.
There is their own financial network, what gnaws at it, and reeks of Guyanese origins. There are their security concerns about terroristic mindsets ceaselessly working to undermine American presence and influence the world over. These are only two of the sensitive areas, where the rubber hits the road: as is beginning to dawn more and more on locals, Americans have a low tolerance for the friendships that the PPP Government and leadership have fostered. It is of the businesses that those local friendships and relationships are intimately engaged in, which the powerful in the PPP have turned a blind eye to, and which could grievously wound our benefactors and protectors from up north. Guyana could serve as the backdoor to undermine American interest here and farther North. Again, while the government’s giving Exxon the freedom to run amok and trample upon the welfare of Guyanese meets with some appreciation by official America, there are those other actions, other postures, and other standards, that provoke great alarms and agitations.
Within the limits of nuanced diplomatic language and protocols, US Ambassador Sarah Ann Lynch has laid out the blueprint from time to time to the PPP Government and leadership. Engage in clean governance, distance from people of known character, be careful with some existing relationships, and always wisely nurture American goodwill and trust. These are the features of governance that thrill not just Americans, but all those other governments that expended so much effort to get the PPP back into office. As America goes, so will the rest, those once warming early letters in the alphabet that labored so mightily during those 19 hard months of not so long ago.
Regrettably, both the government and its leaders, with palpable haughtiness, have failed to grasp that their own actions and inactions are leaving a long and wide shadow. There is all that is housed in that public servant’s phone. Inside of that device, there is likely to be a litany and web of other issues that are not such positive recommendations for government nor leaders. It is a goldmine of who said what to whom, and then communicated upwards for whose benefit. It stands to reason that there would be trails of what came down to the public servant, viz, into her phone and from whom, as in how many leadership sources. By now, it should have become blazingly clearer as to what I meant when I said that the more the PPP attempts to untangle itself, the more it traps itself in a web by its own hand. The ole people used to call it ‘baad’ company. Bad company is bad for good governance, most unhealthy.
From an American perspective, the government is not doing enough, has not made any kind of commendable start in certain areas, and its connections to certain people. Instead of reducing, the government has been condoning. Rather than managing more tightly, the leadership has been about enhancing and empowering through much partnering. All of this is hostile to American interests; and, let it be said, hostile to the PPP Government’s interests. Over the years, America has been up to its elbows in shuffling and reshuffling Guyanese Governments. The precedents speak for themselves, in terms of which group is in, and which leader is out, due to undistilled arrogance.
All this prompts some contemplation on where the PNC could fit into evolving American thinking. In 2020, the American-piloted watchwords were “democracy” and “free and fair”, a main byproduct of which is how Exxon sits untouchable and unconquerable. But given American apprehensions of dangers present in Guyana, and with PPP listlessness and casualness, the PNC stands a chance of rebirth and resurgence, through a return to American graces. Recall what I just tabled about shuffling and reshuffling of Guyana’s Governments. It is just the American Way, nothing personal against the President or the Vice President. I can hear the precise phrasing from now if PPP bigwigs do not convincingly change course with matters and movers that jeopardize pivotal American interests. The Guyanese people will have to decide on the kind of democracy they desire, the destiny that they deserve and which delights. The Guyanese people is a loaded statement. In my estimation, the PNC has the upper hand under such free for all conditions, none of which is good for Guyanese committed to peace and tranquility. The world may have changed, but some elements of it are as unchanging as the seasons.
In my own small ways, I have toiled to caution my brothers in the PPP leadership: do things right and everything will be alright. Certain things. Certain people. Certain practices. Cursing has resulted. I manage.
