By GHK Lall- Vickram Bharrat! Is that news right about Hon. Minister Vickram Bharrat? I rub my eyes. Shake my head to clear it. Indeed! It is Minister Bharrat, chosen by the PPP Govt as Guyana’s champion on the International Board of the Extractive Industries and Transparency Institute (EITI). He has joined the pantheon of local champions who knows what it takes, to get things done a certain way. Again, the PPP Govt has outdid itself: Minister Bharrat, nominated as Guyana’s champion presence at the EITI.
In his favour, the minister is a champion soldier for his political godfathers, his government. They plucked him out of obscurity and made him into a celebrity. Of sorts. The kind that causes raised eyebrows in locations beyond Guyana’s borders. Like the World Cup now streaking to its climax, there will be weeping and rapture. Curses and ecstasies. It is all part of the road to tragedy and the drive to glory.
Hats off to the PPP Govt. When its headmen, Drs. Ali and Jagdeo, a fine pair for sure, desire to get the business of the Guyanese people done a particular way, they always hit the jackpot. They get the best that they can trust to deliver in that peculiar way. Access to information. Procurement Commission. Tender operators. Police management. The first structures in a well-populated graveyard that attract nervous attention. Quick aside: I notice that U.S. police are not letting up on their own airport management of Guyanese police. I must admit, though, that Vickram Bharrat is a champion in his own right. Being the best at follow the leaders. Of any kind. A trusted stalwart at obeying orders. Of all kinds. There’s a slight disconnect there: probability of a large rupture.
Because what’s good for leaders has frequently been the absolute worst for Guyanese. There was Burnham before. Today, there are those who outdo Burnham. Make him look like an amateur. But I refuse to diminish Mr. Bharrat’s moment in the sun. May his head not get too big. May his wings not be scorched. May he not be over his head. Because the watchers in the bigger EITI have their intelligence and intuitions about the way that the GY-EITI works. How it has done-performed, underperformed, or not performed at all-with the same Minister Bharrat at the helm almost six years. May he manage the affairs of this country with surety, not be fidgety. With luminosity, and not the uneasy. The latter is a loser’s game in international communities, where real people with real substance reside.
Separately, wasn’t it the U.S. that once expressed interest in Minister Bharrat? I chalk that up to being an expression of the special welcome extended to special friendships. Maybe I have it wrong. Nonetheless, Drs Ali and Jagdeo knew that in Vickram Bharrat they have their kind of champion. He doesn’t speak much. But few can when they have nothing of, ahem, championship material to offer.
I believe that in their haste to fill a glaring void, Drs Ali and Jagdeo threw caution to the winds. Even if that meant that Minister Bharrat is now a tempting banquet for wolves. Some local, some foreign. They were watching and waiting, those at the Mother EITI setup. Guyana’s extractive industries have degenerated into a deep hole with many loopholes. Papers put under lock and key. No trail, no dots to connect. People put on a leash. Nobody speaking clearly. Many dodging clumsily. Guyana’s patrimony put into the hands of this son, that daughter, and others whose names are on unpublished Wanted Posters.
Still, I recognize Vickram Bharrat. He progressed from a minister to a champion prizefighter. Many may see him differently; for there are different kinds of prizefighters. Those who scaled the odds and, despite their limitations, made champion. Perhaps, it is because of his limitations that Vickram Bharrat was named Guyana’s international EITI champion.
