By GHK Lall- Speaker of the House, the Hon. Manzoor Nadir is having a jolly good time. He’s on top of the world. Almost literally. He’s in India, with the high-altitude Himalayan mountain range close by, and Mt. Everest almost within touching distance. It should relay to Guyanese (and foreign diplomats) how high Mr. Nadir has elevated himself, how far his feet are off the ground, and the rarified atmosphere in which he operates (thrives). Elevation or levitation, that’s my question, and I’m not Shakespeare’s Hamlet, that lost prince. Simply a Guyanese peasant blessed with the PPP Govt’s special affection.
Personally speaking, Speaker Nadir will do anything, use any guise, travel to any place, cross oceans and time zones, just so that he is not in parliament, and have to deal with procedural nuisances and political inconveniences. He has the best cover stories of all. The taxpayers are paying for his travels (and entertainment). To be clear, he does his own shopping on his own dollar. And there is nothing that can beat the grounds for the Speaker’s absence.
He is answering the call of official duties. Attending conferences with anything that embeds one word. Parliament. And another, speakers. Workshops, seminars, symposiums, retreats, conferences, summit conferences, and others of that family are the bases on which Speaker Nadir has winged off into the clouds and graced others in different climes with his majestic and inspiring presence. As said, it’s a wonderful life, and one doesn’t have to be that All-American boy, Jimmy Stewart to taste that life.
Parliament can wait. The Leader of the Opposition (LOO) can sit and wait; twiddle his thumbs to pass time. What’s the hurry? These things take time. There is a process they have to go through. Who cares about the push and press of the foreign diplomats? They should be told by the president to mind their own business. They must know that Guyana is a sovereign nation, with leaders that make up their own minds, because national self-determination is so cherished.
If the president didn’t dabble in the work of the Office of the Commissioner of Information, it’s unlikely that he would break that stance and lean on the Hon Speaker of Guyana’s hallowed house, and order him to get moving. Why! The audacity of these foreign interlopers, the presumptuousness to dare to interfere and all but command Guyanese what to do with their parliament and their LOO. Do they have a clue that the office of the Speaker of the National Assembly is a demanding job, with an unending list of duties attached?
I take the liberty of speaking for Speaker Nadir. Guyanese: please be sympathetic; and if that is alien to the local condition, then aim for reasoning and understanding. The leader of We Invest in Nationhood (WIN), Mr. Azruddin Mohamed, is forced to wait on the courts, be content with whatever develops there. He cannot complain. By the same token, the man from WIN, Mr. Mohamed II, must bide his time, know his place, and wait on the Speaker to make up his mind when he is good and ready. Or released to do so. What is all the ruckus about?
Can’t people, both Guyanese and foreign born, see that the Speaker is busy, with lots of important work before him? Not many Guyanese get invited to attend important conferences. Or seek out those to invite themselves. Have a heart. The Speaker has to deal with 65 MPs watching his every move, waiting on his every word, decision. The stress, oh, the stress is a killer. It is not a pleasant situation to be in a goldfish bowl 24/7. If I were Speaker, I would find some excuse to be out of Guyana 300 days out of the year, not including weekends and holidays. Parliament gets the remainder.
Look at the life of a Speaker, domestics and internationals are all lined up to bend his ear, and bend him to their will. Frankly, it is really the president to whom all the howling about parliament and LOO is directed. I suggest that Mr. Nadir do a little work, if only for the show of it, and to still the baying of the hounds. Meanwhile, have a good time, sir.
