Now that the Leader of the Opposition (LOO) matter has been finally settled, what is next? From here to where? The newly minted LOO sounded the right note when he called for cooperation in parliament. A timely call, one that has much potential. In a polity where contentiousness and conflict are the norms, how well does that bode for cooperation to any meaningful degree, towards any healthy level, for what length of time? Which one of the political groups present in parliament is genuinely interested in cooperation? More pointedly, cooperation with Mr. Azruddin Mohamed, leader of We Invest In Nationhood (WIN)?
The old PNC, now APNU, is still smarting from its takedown by this most surprising of newcomers and political amateurs, so cooperation from this group is touch and go. For its part, the PPP Govt went full pedal-to-the-floor to block Mr. Mohamed’s all but foregone election, while it hustled to knock him down, and get him out of here on the fastest plane. From my perspective, this is the not kind of environment that holds much promise for cooperation. There’s just too much bad blood, too many raw, open wounds. They will take some time to heal, if ever. Some situations can’t be faked.
Also, cooperation between political parties is such a rarity in Guyana that it equates to a Black Swan event, i.e., a development that occurs after many lost generations. If ever there was an elusive dream, cooperation is it. I think there is great energy and greater excitement to go in the opposite direction, if only to prove a point, and to record how contrarian one side can be. Why give a man, especially one of Azruddin Mohamed’s caliber, the opening, the credit, for getting a motion or a bill moving to final fruition. He may have the will, but he doesn’t have the hands. While he couldn’t be stopped in December and January, he can be grounded, reduced to an impotent force, going forward. Look at how the calling of parliament into session was stretched to the max, then left dangling in the wind. If not for the insistent voices of the resident diplomatic corps, the election of the LOO could still have been hanging, and for how long, nobody but the signal callers in the PPP Govt know. A fine way to speak of democracy. But today, the matter at hand is cooperation among the parties in parliament.
Practically speaking, there are now two main opposition columns or phalanxes, and there is the promise of their respective representatives speaking on different tracks re the same issue. Meaning, because of likely lack of cooperation and synchronizing of efforts to speak with one voice, there could be representation in fragments. Sometimes making the same point; other times speaking in angry disharmony, which dilutes efforts, and the best of intentions, if there were ever any such considerations in the first place. Further, what may be a priority issue for PNC/APNU may not be of the same interest for the people in the WIN parliamentary cohort. I am scrambling for an idea of how all of this could come together, and come up short.
It should be noted that I have kept a lid on the PPP’s parliamentary contributions. The budget debates ought to confirm the quality of the preparation, the standard of the contributions, and how persuasive such are to the watching and listening public. I have this alarming image swirling in my head, where the house of the people’s business is reduced to a Chamber of Babylonian cacophonies. It is where everyone is talking over the heads of everyone else, where no one cares to listen to what the others have to say, and where nobody gives a damn about what was contributed. Some Guyanese may consider that that has all the hallmarks of spirited debate. What I think should be seen is how parliament is lowered to a ghastlier state of disgrace, and used to wage punitive political wars, and to broadside through premeditated vengefulness.
The longer that WIN’s Mohamed is at liberty to remain in this country, the more the political tumors will balloon, and of which there are the same regular losers. That is, the Guyanese people and their smashed aspirations. Cooperation, where the hell did that cat come from, got dragged into this house? Not a chance, comrade.
