By GHK Lall-I share some quotes, three to be exact; let the expressive words tell their own story. Then, to share the surrounding stories.
“The environment that fosters the culture of impunity, where wrongdoing is normalised and justice appears elusive is disbanded because that is what rocks the foundational pillars of justice, security and freedom.” No! that wasn’t wartime British Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill. Others could be forgiven their thinking that it was the American ‘law and order’ President Richard Nixon. Far from either of the two.
The second quote should have a more familiar ring. “Shared accountability is about our individual and collective responsibility in building a stronger society, a safer society, a better society, and all of us must understand that we have a shared responsibility in this regard.” If US President John F. Kennedy came to mind, he of “ask not what your country can do for you -ask what you can do for your country” wrong again, way off the mark.
The third extract, however, lets the cat out of the bag. “Shared accountability is where every single citizen must understand that they have a role in building a strong Police Force, in building a professional Police Force, in building a responsible Police Force, in building a Police Force with high integrity, every single citizen, every single citizen must play a role. If you try to bribe an officer, you are part of the problem. If you try to bribe a traffic officer, you are part of the problem.” Those who pinned that immediately to our dear, beloved, President Mohamed Irfaan Ali are recognized for the splendor of their hearing, and the quality of their political leadership antennae, too.
It’s clear to me that President Ali toils under some major handicaps. The worst kinds are those that are self-inflicted. President Ali, for some reason known only to himself, believes that the louder he talks, the more impressive and persuasive he is.
It is my terrible duty to inform my national leader that all his overwrought rhetoric and soaring volume do is to leave him worse for wear with regard to his listening apparatus. He is his own unrelenting enemy. The president could be given a pass for thinking that he is doing well in the self-glorifying department. I cannot, however, look the other way, when the same Guyana Police Force (GPF) problem, of which he spoke so effusively, starts right at his doorstep, under the finery of his Rip Van Winkle captaincy.
I am as one with President Ali when he said “if you try to bribe an officer…a traffic officer, you are part of the problem.” And what is the problem, if not that eternal curse that hangs over all Guyana like the most venomous, dangerous of snakes? I christen it corruption? Though the president engaged in some fancy ballroom footwork, what that did was highlight the fact that he was clever enough to employ “problem”.
Problem, in the hands of President Ali is both a synonym and euphemism, for corruption in Guyana. A bribe doesn’t solve corruption; a bribe supports it; a bribe strengthens it; a bribe extends it and empowers corruption to greater heights. When my wise and omniscient head of state speaks to truth, I am in lockstep with him; nothing can come between us. How I wish that he would give me more opportunity to say that again and again. When he does, they have been far and apart, apparently by calculation.
Because when the GPF is misused in service of vindictive and criminal political agendas, that is a problem. When the GPF is withheld or redirected from going all out, from doing its best, for the protection of honest, conscientious citizens, then that is a problem. In both instances, a government problem, and a leadership problem. Relative to the leadership problem I just identified, it is more than a GPF one. He owns that problem wholesale and retail, and by some other four-hooved tail that I shall be charitable and not specify.
When law-abiding citizens are reviled and vilified by agents of the PPP Government, and the GPF develops an astounding case of organizational rheumatism and astigmatism, then that is a serious problem, Mr. President. I can present a string of victims, Mr. President, who have subject to multiple injustices at the hands his senior and trusted PPP Government insiders.
They have a common connecting thread, Dr. President: when such instances rear their ugly heads, the entire GPF usually checks itself into the nearest ICU. And when citizens are bold enough and speak out against PPP Government corruptions-real and perceived-and they are intimidated, while national leadership and national law enforcement feigns innocence, then that’s a problem bigger than President Ali and me.
My closing remarks: President Ali has compiled an unflattering record in the last five years. He likes the hollow phrase, thinks of himself as oratory’s master. Notwithstanding his platitudes, the record of GPF misuse and GPF misdirection haunts him as surely as a noose silhouetted over a man’s head. Indeed, when citizens offer a bribe, they feed the problem. The bigger problem is the height where corruption lives, is fostered. President Ali knows what height, and where to look
