“It was just an interesting, very informal meeting with the Speaker….” So said, Excellency Nicole D. Theriot, US Ambassador to Guyana following that meeting of a surprising number of ambassadors with the Hon. Speaker of the House, Manzoor Nadir. “Interesting” is an intriguing word when employed by the US dignitary. I hearken back to that ancient Chinese proverb, “may you live in interesting times.” A curse really and, of all the words in her repertoire, Ambassador Theriot saw it fit to use that one (interesting). What message was being conveyed in delicate diplomatic verbiage? To the public. To the Speaker. To the president and the PPP Govt? Probably, it’s the charade is seen through, over. Cut the nonsense. Move on.
It was “just a chat.” Now that sounds more American than Chinese, a la Rough Rider, President Teddy Roosevelt. Recall: “speak softly, but carry a big stick.” The US Ambassador held many sticks, including this one. Just remember who was the driving force behind the PPP’s presence in power, from 1992, then more conspicuously in 2020. Hence, the Speaker is where he is; and making an unholy mess of issues-routine and substantial-that come before him. It’s obvious that Speaker Nadir is way over his head. Obvious, too, is that the PPP Govt delights in putting some in positions, where they have one function. Hold the line. Don’t flinch. Don’t waver. Absorb blows. The leadership got your back, will protect, never abandon. Look away from the Speaker’s selection, practices. Look across Guyana, and there is a cohort (a cabal) that diminishes themselves with words, postures, and decisions that negatively impact Guyanese life.
Oil, information, and media standards are chosen at random, and it’s the same rot. Give nothing. Represent nothing. Be assured that the PPP leadership is irreversibly committed to backing whatever is said and done. Silence reigns. Hands-off is another. Pretense at distance and standing apart are among other leadership subterfuges. The Speaker doesn’t operate in a silo or a vacuum, and if the other ambassadors don’t know that, Guyanese can bet their last shilling that US Ambassador Theriot knows the whole story, escapades and all. As an aside, I was pleasantly surprised that the Chinese were part of the diplomatic contingent that visited the Speaker. In contrast, I am toiling at how the Venezuelan plenipotentiary got invited, and accompanied that interest group cum pressure group.
I think that the visit by the foreign babysitters was less about the Speaker, and more for the benefit of Pres. Ali and the hidden strongman behind him, the still irrepressible, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo. Most Guyanese know, and the foreign community also, that Speaker Nadir is rolled cigarette paper with no tobacco in it. Without the fullest backing of the PPP Govt, he is an empty suit. Because he is the man manning the parliamentary front, that step had to be taken, the courtesy extended to Mr. Nadir. No one should be lulled into a sense of the ordinary. Not when the diplomatic community took that extraordinary step to get in the Speaker’s space and, probably, in his face. A nice, friendly chat with a big walking stick for more than fashion. What I saw in action was a little diplomatic lubrication for the Speaker to get his rusted and seized up engine to kick in and sputter to life. For the diplomatic community to go so far confirms that the Opposition Leader’s election has gone too far, and languished too long.
Last, when the Speaker embarrasses himself, I arrive elsewhere. He embarrasses the president, the entire executive, the nation. Worse, Pres. Ali embarrasses himself when shadows are his preferred companions. Pretending that his hands are washed, and that he has a policy of noninvolvement and noninterference, falls flat. It says quite a bit that the president can play his game of serenity, through his laughable postures intended to convey that the Speaker’s actions and what happens in parliament are not his business. Meanwhile, it shouldn’t surprise that others, including the Hon Attorney General, find solace in gushing about democracy and constitution. Given how much the same PPP Govt has engaged the international community, and resident diplomatic corps, the ambassadors had no choice but to confront Speaker Nadir. Media sweetness about the “chat” notwithstanding, that was what occurred. Confrontation. Get this damn thing done. Get it done now.
