By GHK Lall- Bring out the bugles, November 3 has arrived. Parliament convened, called into action, ready to work for the people. Which people, really? The people who play their juggling, self-enriching, embarrassing, games in the house of all Guyanese? Or the real work of real people, who trusted them all? All eyes are fixed on the Leader of the Opposition. Under normal circumstances in normal places, that should be a normal matter. Open-and-shut, and as tightly closed as a bank vault’s door. But, as citizens know all too well, Guyana can no longer be considered a normal place with normal people behaving normally in normal situations. The abnormal is more the standing norm.
The Speaker who I understand is being rewarded for his loyal holding of the line for five years. He returns. The Speaker may have a surprise or two under his jacket collar for the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) leader, MP in waiting and Opposition Leader bridegroom inside the national chamber, the Hon. Azruddin Mohamed. I did say that Guyana is not a normal place, didn’t I? The Hon. Azruddin Mohamed, all suited and tied (hopefully sartorially, and not officially), all neatly coiffed and cuffed (oh no! there, I did it again, my humblest apologies), and ready for his grand day. Will it be one of personal glory? Of a man mangled and mocked, yet rising to the upper house of national glory? Or, will it be Guyana’s day of special infamy, where the will of the people is given the shortest thrift, the roughest kick? We shall see.
Before moving to another frightening potential development inside the once hallowed, now howling, halls of parliament, I must express my personal disappointment publicly. I should have been named an MP, carrying the banner of the poor and forgotten in this country. Never has one man helped another man so much to move rich gems out of Guyana and received nothing but caustic soda and homemade incendiary devices as his thanksgiving. Homemade as in coming with the compliments of Freedom House and other nationally high offices of bawdy repute. Yes, it is only early November; so, I guess I will have to swallow my disappointment and wait for that other turkey on Thanksgiving Day as my recognition and compensation. This country is not normal.
Now it is time for the real parliamentary challenge that alarms, that prompts the greatest internal upheaval of the spirit. With parliament as its seat of triumph, its broad field of visionary operation, the returning PPP leaders now have a piece of unfinished business to arrange, finalize, and bring to fruition. Five seats are all that the environment demands. Five seats make the PPP untouchable, unstoppable. And, I shall say for posterity, unimaginable. For those who thought that the PPP as a government, as a party, as a leadership cadre was bad before, they haven’t seen anything yet. Five seats in the pocket and the future is set. Of course, something is going to have to come out of pocket for that to happen, and the best part is that Guyanese taxpayers are carrying the load. Except they don’t know how, and frankly don’t care. Forget about Venezuelans and Commonwealth voters, when five seats can be had with the right meeting of the minds. Why work so hard, with so many loose threads that can be tracked to their origins?
For those Guyanese who shudder and recoil in horror, I regret to point out that there is precedent, and it is as recent as seven Decembers ago. Remember that no-confidence motion and vote. If then and for what passed, then why not now, when there is more to exchange to make lovely things happen? The economist in Guyana’s man of the strategical and the magical, the Hon. Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, should be drooling, given the existence of what the textbooks call ‘the double coincidence of wants.’ A supermajority for the PPP and sweet, super consideration for the non-PPP side in the house of the Guyanese people. The odds are overwhelming. Who will quibble? Who is so resolute and contented, as not to nibble? If one could have jumped ship in December 2018, there could be five more longing to join his company. Like the first-timer floor-crosser from that sinister December had said, it is for the people. Think, Guyanese, think. Third term, unfettered expansion of authoritarianism, the reality of a police state, and a helpful judicial stadium packed accordingly and rising to do duty.
The Hon. Azruddin Mohamed, MP if still around, may be the glue that holds his people, the stumbling block that thwarts the machinations of his political opponents. It makes sense to deliver him to waiting Uncle Sam’s agents. It will take some getting used to, that one involving honorable, demand much of me.
