By GHK Lall- The question has been rightly raised. From where are the billions coming? I dig up one from my reservoir: How come they are now lying around in plain sight, so many billions suddenly so easily found? Here is another: what held back before? Then another: what is driving in this determined and kind and caring manner now? First, it was all of $60 big ones, bigger than Burnham had to deal with in his time. Now, with the reduction to $100,000 to cater to the younger folks and the expansion of that Christmas (hopefully) sack on Santa Ali’s shoulder, the amount needed is anywhere north of $60 billion.
As far north as the North Pole but not with bitter and biting iciness. But with the warming sweetness of six-figures in the hitherto empty, outstretched palm of poor people in Guyana, and then the rest who could mange without the election cash handout. Damn! I went and let that noisy dog out of his glass kennel.
All those questions involving source and restraint and then the rush of generosity have their strengths and their relevance. Money couldn’t be found for teachers, which big people in the PPP Government lamented. From Santa Ali to Bart Jagdeo, there was that constant, convenient mantra: de spirit is willing, but de flesh is weak. In Guyanese, there is no money, so there is no love to share and spread. Thus, the first in the next round of questions come racing out of the blocks.
What the big bosses in the PPP Government, from Santa Ali to Bart Jagdeo to AK Singh, are going to tell other famished sections of Guyanese hopefuls, such as long patient public servants? What excuses, fallback cover stories, will the three musketeers of local financial swordsmanship drum up to present to those segments in the Guyanese population that are clamoring for that kindest and most compassionate of leadership consideration: a livable wage? After all, Guyana is, and they as Guyanese are, the richest that could be found anywhere in the Milky Way, so why not?
Why does their position have to be the equivalent of a Black Hole of uncertainty, of fury, and of one indignity after another foisted upon them by a callous leadership? If I hurt the delicate feelings of the sensitive in this country, then they know what they can kiss. After all, the three men in charge of the oil money and all the other money are doctors. They are not seen as doctors in the mold of Dr. Frankenstein or Dr. Mengele, but more in the nature of Dr. Zhivago or Dr. Huxtable (Bill Cosby).
My remaining question is simple, the most important after the whys, whereases, and whereabouts. How can the Guyanese people ever again trust Santa Ali, Bart Jagdeo, and AK Singh? Dem fuss seh dem nah gah monee, then they quickly located a huge stash of cash. How can Guyanese on the wrong side of the local divide (including some people on the poor side of their divide) ever put any faith [and trust] in these three fine Guyanese gentlemen of the noble PPP Government Round Table? I think that one is as wrong as wrong can be. What ranking members of the PPP Government conduct their deliberations and other business around is not a Round Table. It is a damn Star Chamber.
Again, how can these fine folks of a certain feather ever be trusted with money, to be around money, when they had for farmers (early and sneaky elections deposits to be held in safekeeping and available on call), but not for other people in the domestic Guyanese diaspora? If anyone is wondering about that construction, domestic Guyanese diaspora, don’t think too hard, for elaboration is available.
Those left out, pushed out, and kicked out of PPP Government economic considerations may as well be in the USA, some part of Himalaya, or anywhere in Africa, for all that their presence in the local environment matters. The crisis and the contradiction are that they are here, this irony and ignominy, where some Guyanese are reduced to last class foreigners in the land of their birth. Their unfortunate circumstance is to be condemned to the basement-the second or third subterranean level-of generous economic inclusion by a PPP Government and leadership, Guyana’s three magicians of the macabre. The record is there for every Guyanese, be they for or against anything, to examine, to conclude and, if they have the stomach for it, to be honest with themselves.
So, I return to my lingering, deepening question: how can any Guyanese ever trust the PPP Government again? How can I listen to Santa Ali and Bart Jagdeo and AK Singh and believe a word that they say? I wish that I could trust them, but what have they given that justifies that trust. Guyanese are welcome to take them for granted and to be taken for granted. As has always happened, Guyanese will be taken to the cleaners. If that is too American, then try this one. Guyanese who trust Santa Ali, Bart Jagdeo and AK Singh with being truly on their side had better prepared for that long, last walk. To Death Row, it is.
