By GHK Lall- “We believe that the future of Guyana would involve at some level and some fashion, whatever that framework may be, these parties working together. They have to, of necessity. That’s when this country can accomplish all the dreams of those who had to flee this country and seek a better fortune elsewhere and the dreams of those who are living here now. That’s how we’d achieve it.”
It is heartening that Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo is now a believer (“We believe….”). He has finally joined those ranks. In a country where half of the country pulls one way, and the other half in the opposite direction, what Mr. Jagdeo said is commonsense. Election result be damned. No college education required. No great intellect a must-have. One doesn’t even have to know how to read and write. But there was Jagdeo at Mr. Corbin’s march past rhapsodizing about “these parties working together.” For whose benefit, doc?
The Guyanese people? Or the PPP? It is said ‘don’t look a gift horse in the mouth’ and ‘beware of Greeks bringing gifts.’ Jagdeo doesn’t have a Grecian cut, but that’s why I am wary of what he said, all the more. Sure, it brings a tingling. But just as sure, it brings back memories of politicians and their schemes. Dr. Jagdeo is several housing schemes by himself.
“They [PPP-PNC] would have to, of necessity.” I must give it to him. In those six words, Dr. Jagdeo just reduced Dr. Ali to a political pauper, a wooden horse, a drugstore cowboy. All hot air and no herd. It took all of a quarter of a century of years for Jagdeo to arrive at “have to” and “of necessity.”
After all the blood and tears, the sweat and treasure, Bharrat Jagdeo finally made it home. I thought he was brighter. He’s just cleverer. What Mr. Jagdeo said at Robert Corbin’s lying-in-state (metaphorically speaking) just threw Mr. Ali’s One Guyana on its head and broke its neck. He did; not I.
Because if there’s no working together, PPP and PNC extinction hangs overhead. Guyana is broken. Guyana is divided. Where there’s division, nothing looks like one, smells like one, or sounds like one. It is why “working together” is more than necessity. It’s mandatory. No number of floor-crossers and racial window-dressers will knit anything together. The buying and selling, at which Jagdeo is so good at, patches. Doesn’t heal. None soothed.
“…this country can accomplish all the dreams of those who had to flee…seek a better fortune elsewhere…” I can write 10 such books. Been there. In addition to being self-destructive, Guyana was poor then. More than half of this country’s human capital, working capital, forever lost. And, other than some half-dead, half-sick, and half-pregnant (that, too) diaspora unit, that hemorrhage has continued like a monsoon season that’s never over.
Oil is here, and Guyanese are still fleeing elsewhere. Means something isn’t right, somebody is doing wrong. Something else flashes past. Jagdeo’s call for political cohesion must have some relationship to the ethnic demographics that the Bureau of Stats shrink from publishing. Mr. Nice Guy is Mr. Conniving Guy.
“And the dreams of those living here now.” Here I am, again Mr. Jagdeo; numbering among them. When the PPP Govt is allergic to light (and truth), Dr. Jagdeo knows I’m around. I have dreams, too, Brother Jagdeo. It’s that today every Guyanese man, woman, and child get their rightful share of this national oil treasure. And that they take their place, right next to Mr. Alistair Routledge. They can proudly say: a part owner I am. And I belong. And I am entitled. This is written for those Guyanese. My dreams end there.
Before, Jagdeo conducted himself like Mr. Divider. Now he is Mr. National Bridgebuilder. Only the PPP, PNC, and Jagdeo are mentioned today. The blanks are his to fill. He has the names. Only one necessary. If Dr. Bharrat is truly about national harmony and unity, he didn’t need expediency. No wake-house. None in a jailhouse. His speaking straight is about what could straighten Guyana.
