Parliament -hey, what’s the big idea?

By GHK Lall- Parliament closed. Minds shut. Voices stilled. The PPP endured one 80-day strike, then a longer one. Now, it inflicts its own version of a beatdown, shutdown, top-down equivalent. What’s the objective? How many behind this great calculated closing of parliament?

Even the foreigners are agitated. It tarnishes their claims of democracy’s sheen glinting in Guyana. PPP and Ali Guyana. For clues about PPP Govt visions behind parliament’s long closure, try these. In England, there was the Rump Parliament (says all, doesn’t it?), the Barebones Parliament (ditto), and the Long Parliament. In Guyana, there is the Hanged Parliament, which explains why the ambassadors are howling. How dare the PPP tamper with their efforts.

No parliament signifies no discussions. No discussions mean no developments, no revelations. No revelations suffocate interpretations, conclusions. Life stagnated. And when there aren’t those, then condemnation (of the Ali PPP) equates to a blizzard by the National Stadium. A nonevent. Naysayers stonewalled. PPP leaders have an open field to carry on with their clowning, and tampering with the minds of the people. The people, ah, the people. Time to call a few names.

The Honorable Speaker of the now less-than-honored House is saved from himself. Why open parliament’s doors and compel the poor Speaker to open his mouth? I call that Because We Care. Not so much for the man, but for the grandeur of his mind, the product of his mouth, and the seances that he delivers.

The Deputy Speaker gets to sail to Canada and learn how the ropes work in a democracy. The difficulty the PPP-from president to Speaker to Deputy Speaker-encounters is how to reconcile the White Man’s parliamentary democracy with the PPP Government’s practices on how it should be. Closing doors is more than about concealing. It is about closing the Guyanese people minds.

Poor Mark Phillips, he gets the dirty job: a basket to deal with a basket case. Why do certain people in Guyana always get the dirtiest jobs? WhatsApp with that, General Mark? Credit to the man, he tries with Guyana’s biggest, bottomless basket case. Shake hands with the devil: Wales. The contraption conjured by the great Bharrat Jagdeo labeled Gas-to-Shore (GTE).

Only a leader, planner, and conductor with the prowess of FP, FMP, FCP, and FLOP Jagdeo could have come-up with a US$2B GTE bonanza for citizens. But on soil so spongy it is costly. Only a character like Jagdeo could guarantee the beauty of cheap electricity and for it to become a tragedy. Thanks for nothing, Mister Doctor. But when there is no parliament, no David Patterson with meddlesome GTE motions, no passing the Speaker, no microphones, and no cameras, then no Guyanese is wiser.

About GTE. About PAC. About Cuba and China. About foreign workers exploited. About E-Id cards and laws. About America and why it owns and controls Guyana. About Lord Alistair of Exxon-in-Stabroek (and whatever games the company plays there). About, oh, fuhgeddaboudit it. No parliament means no nothing. The diplomats are upset. Makes them look bad. They are now cracking the whip on Dr. Ali. Calling Dr. Ali! Calling Dr. Ali! Has anybody heard anything from Pres Ali recently? On anything besides the usual PPP propaganda and his comic strip scripts reeking of sunshine and sorrows. Believe it, fellow Guyanese, Americans.

For him, the presidency is about putting on a show, and parliament is a sideshow. And so, today the Mighty Ali will break his press conference silence and transform to an oracle. Cash grant. Compassion. Democracy. Accountability. Maybe GTE. I repeat a past stanza: more orations of exaggerations and obfuscations. When those two losers fail, trusted backups takeover: vacillations and innovations. My struggle is why Guyanese are raising a ruckus about no parliament. Parliament is open. It’s the One-Man, One Member, One Speaker Irfaan Ali National Assembly. Great country, this place name Guyana.