By GHK Lall- One’s from the priestly caste. The other claims warrior caste status. Both are commended for high-mindedness. Both Hon Minister of Women’s Safety, Dr. Vindya Persaud, and Hon Minister of Justice, SC Anil Nandlall have programs that they placed in the public space. Commendable, again, I say.
Then, warmth fades, a long chill saturates consciousness: what to think, to say, of the disconnection? Between programs intended to inspire confidence, and the people reaching for protection, but finding nothing. The programs and provisions are still in those two high government offices. So, why are the people, especially women and paupers trapped in certain circumstances, left hanging, on their own?
Vindya Persaud, a woman of standing who asserts vigorously that she’s for women in distress. Where is the hon minister, when allegation of rape is made? Anil Nandlall, a man who informs that he is of righteous justice, and nothing else, into which mist did he fade (or sought safe distance from inconvenient light)?
All this paper of where to look for help in times of overpowering menace, what to do, who to trust. Only for the victims of alleged injustice to learn to their pain, it’s nothing but paper. The people to make them come alive, mean something, and deliver what’s protective, what’s comforting, they are just not there.
Dr. Persaud is occupied with other interests. Temporarily. Until, the dust settles, the air clears. Her erstwhile colleague, Minister Oneidge Walrond has her hands full. But what should have stuck instantly, passed straight through her fingers. Belatedly, she tries to recover the pieces. Instead of the priority being who has been victimised and being there for them, the PPP Govt has always been about who is exposed, and what damage could be done.
Before there is any erecting of institutional barriers, the mental ones take effect immediately. Lookout for the team. Protect the brand. Hence, when Minister of Justice Nandlall is expected to reiterate all of his prior bhajans about the law’s majesty, the law’s splendor, he discovers that it’s time for a leave of absence.
All those fine representations on Facebook come back, like a boomerang, to make his own face appear contorted. A man of the law in agony at the law diluted to impotency. So, I believe. So, I stand. When the provisions of the law and its procedural underpinnings should take charge, there is the limp-lipped, the limp-wristed, and the limping spirits of not one, not two, but three ministers of repute.
I am open to correction: it could be all of them in that gang. When there’s delivery before a captive and swooning crowd, the likes of Persaud, Nandlall, and Walrond (all great children of Guyana) are incomparable, baskets of high-octane energy, mesmerizing verbal spillage. When they have to stand before those seeking answers to hard questions, seeking help, their first instinct is all for one and one for all.
Decades ago, I wrote that the edifice of the PPP as a party and as a government is so mildewed and decayed, that to touch one board is to risk the whole goddamned building toppling. It is why ministers buy time to create the space to get their heads (and stories) in order. It is why ministers seek the comfort of distance, so that they can develop what they believe to be credible cover stories.
Somebody reportedly said that Guyanese are stupid. Those of the lower political orders ensure that Guyanese get that point when they unload a bag of dirt on them. In the U.S Congress, a senator called a prosecutor a “dirtbag”. I come close, but would not go so far in Guyana.
In conclusion, I put this before all Guyanese (PPP, PNC, WIN [and foreign envoys]): human services are for people in bad times. Neither shelf nor silence renders aid when desperately needed. Justice is for all, and not only for ordinary citizens raised as exhibits of the law’s vitality, by those claiming to practice it.
