By GHK Lall- I have had vehicles recalled at different times for different reasons. Those recalls by Honda and Nissan fixed things that menaced safety. Then, there were recalls that I didn’t know required addressing. To recall is a good thing. Recall protects. Recall reassures that there is dealing with reputable companies and their executives, because those recalls cost a whole lot of money.
At least, the insurance premiums bow to upward pressures. At the end of the day, recall is about admitting to an obligation, taking some type of responsibility, however belatedly. In my book, recall is the honorable thing to do; the only one to agree to and deliver, when the circumstances so demand. Even when the lapse, the fault, is unknown.
So, what do I think of ‘I do not recall?’ As in the instance of this Guyana Papers involving what has been variously labeled Lamborghini Lash and Backlash (by me); and car-gate; and tax-gate. From His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali came the admission, per SN’s Friday, June 6th edition, of ‘I do not recall.’ What to make of this lack of, ah, recollection? Indeed, there are times when the memory fails, even the young, the swift-headed, and those with instant recall and photographic mental brilliance.
Everything is captured and retained; nothing ever escapes. Because of such, President Ali may be due the consideration of human failing in the recall department. I should hope that I didn’t offend the president’s keen sensitivities by mentioning ‘human failing’ and his name in the same sentence. Or that I opened myself to be accused of some high crime, an unpardonable one.
In addition, President Ali is an extremely busy national executive, a man in demand the world over, one who has to deal with problems and challenges large and small, and all those in between. So, to expect him to recall a matter as mundane as some pestiferous and obstreperous and ludicrous Lamborghini tax matter is really asking too much.
I think that on this ‘I do not recall’ development from Excellency Ali, Guyanese should exercise some discretion, and extend some care to the president. Because we Care came from out of his head, I think Guyanese must also show we can care, too.
Since Pres. Ali threw in the towel with ‘I do not recall’, I am recommending that bygones be bygones. It has been five years, and it is time to forget (not recall) and move smartly along. Yes, yes, I know about Richard Nixon and Andrew Johnson and William “Slick Willie” Clinton, and they did worse than Irfaan ‘I do not recall’ Ali, allegedly did. So, what’s the big deal? Plenty, as I see it.
‘I do not recall’ has another following, as in a school of thought. In lawyer speak, ‘I do not recall’ is often used as a proxy for I prefer not to recall. Or, from the pop music genre of the Bee Gees ‘don’t forget to remember.’ It could be that what Pres. Ali is saying is he forgot to remember. After all, national executives are not known to keep a file on these things, a mental one.
What the president is doing is not without political precedent. For there was another honorable member of his PPP group, a minister and lawmaker no less, who went before a commission inquiring into some police killings and jumped on that ‘I do not recall’ bandwagon scores of times. The lawyers have a knack of doing their homework and prep work very well, in drilling ‘I do not recall’ into their subject’s head.
In such situations, I use my constitutional right to articulate that ‘I do not recall’ is a development that objects to self-incrimination. In America, it is called taking the fifth. In Guyana, ‘I do not recall’ amounts to taking a walk. Not one of those famous perp walks, but a legal and political one. For the information of the PPP Government, if the constitutional right to think and speak is not available to me, then I will avail myself of the divine right to do so.
Having placed this banquet on the table now laden with the sumptuous vittles of ‘I do not recall’ how do I really see this whole soggy, sordid, sickly business involving luxury vehicles and tax conversations (and Godfrey Statia and his posse sidelined), and now the kicker of ‘I do not recall,’ Yeah, what do I think of ‘I do not recall’ after all the leadership sturm und drang about who is ‘dishonest and duplicitous’ (from the president) and who is “dishonest and dishonorable” (a la the youngster)?
In a nutshell, it has long been held that patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels. Re ‘I do not recall’ there could be something more illustrious underway.
