By GHK Lall- It looks like the end for my Guyanese sister, Excellency Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett. It’s a damn shame. It’s also the way the world works. The hatchets have come out, and not from any ordinary source, but one of the best, strongest, usually respected. Did a little endorsement. Glad that was done. Sets a tone and standard for this country, from Dr. Ali to the peasantry. I can walk over to the side of those who curse me, and still wash their feet. The kicks will still come. Washing feet is what is known, believe serves this country well.
When the mighty Wall Street Journal can go back over a decade and dig up the raggedy on Guyana’s Carolyn Rodrigues, in the running for UN Secretary General, it says two things. Some powerful plank has it in for her candidacy. She is now persona non grata re the position of United Nations Secretary-General.
Like so many in Guyana’s luminary hierarchy, never had the opportunity of an encounter. Understand from solid sources that she is a hard worker, a Guyanese woman that deserves every morsel of recognition that comes her way.
Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett earned it. Industry. Honesty. Integrity. She didn’t have any part in that fiery female brigade that stormed the battlements of a past American ambassador’s residence, and let him have it in front of his assembled guests. But all of that doesn’t matter, by my reckoning. The Journal fired the first salvo. The swarm of locusts will soon come out of the shadows and have a go at her. Inevitably, regrettably, she transforms into tainted goods.
Apparently, the UN SG is reserved for another contestant from another bloc, another geographical and political point on the map. Still, the recommendation is for Guyana’s Pres Ali to roll up his sleeves and lobby for this Guyanese who has served this country and her people well. If ever there was a time to leverage the special relationship between Guyana and America, that has been bandied about, it is now, for this cause.
All and sundry want a piece of Guyana. It is time that Guyana gets something in return. UN SG is a small prize for this country, but it could lead to Excellency Rodrigues-Birkett showing the world that Guyana has a different caliber of people. Not many, not those who sell themselves, not those who make speeches that they can’t honor. But a few good men and women who have an inner light that yields to no amount of darkness.
In thinking of this Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett development, it is necessary to expand the frame of thinking. If she can be made into an undesirable, then what about others who have crossed lines repeatedly, and crossed-up agents of Uncle Sam, if not Sam himself? What label could be found for others; people like me? Communist could be the starting point. Anti-American another, which some bright Guyanese have pinned, and more likely straining at the leash to do the same. All part of the passage.
What is frightening is how far and deep and twisted the politics of this time has deteriorated. Frightening is retracted; alarming substituted. Who is there to fear, among these characters made of sand, straw, spit, and sawdust? Look at where Guyana is. A rich country disrespected. The hypocrites and conmen speak of partnership. Where, with whom? Women elevated. Then those stealthy steps that reinforce the glass ceiling, hold it intact.
Despite her deficits, who represents a more complete candidate for UN SG than Ms. Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett? A woman of substance. Of indigenous heritage. A uber contributor. One who has comported herself with grace (notwithstanding the WSJ’s feral fulminations). Since this is the way the cards play, I don’t want to be in the building, much less around the table. It is that much of a crooked deck.
More than anyone else, this public service message is for the American Embassy, and its guardians. Peace to all.
