Dear Editor,
A whole slew of people has it in for the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) group. Democracy is a blood sport. The PPP is going for the jugular. It takes an arm and a leg, as opportunities arise. The idea is to cripple WIN. The PPP Govt has help, from a regular but still unusual place: the PNC. Better the devil that is known, than the spawn that grows into a serpent. Guyanese who voted blue will have to sing the blues. Of what could have been? It still could be. For the second time, the CCJ is not a foregone conclusion.
In no particular order, I lay out the life and times of the WIN group. Pres Ali is stubbornness itself: not meeting with the Leader of the Opposition. God can command. He will have to fulfill his own demand. Excellency Ali has already had his uncharacteristic moment of transparency: not meeting with Mohamed. The next move is up to Mohamed.
The president set the pace. Speaker of the National Assembly, the Hon Manzoor Nadir, got the drift. Got his mug into the picture. No swearing in, no Mohamed. A WIN without wing or prayer. Only in Guyana can a surprise winner be remade as a loser. Speaker Nadir was just getting started. Allocation of time for contributors followed. He has his own ways of doing things, reaching conclusions that even he can’t justify. WIN had to fight for every inch to get its voice heard. It thought progress was made. It expected that a new standard would prevail. The PPP had ideas to the contrary. Not quite in contravention of parliamentary democracy. But definitely on the slick, slippery side. In stepped the PPP again to register its power, and quash any hopes relative to involvement and movement. The work of the crucial Public Accounts Committee (PAC) suspended between time and space. The chair of WIN, the Hon Vishnu Panday found himself dangling in the wind, groping for parachutes. Quorum out, lights out. In a nutshell, the PPP Govt has developed a thriving practice on halting the PAC dead in its tracks. Two birds stoned with one strike. No scrutiny of years of PPP spending of public money. No accountability. For those screaming that transparency is lacking, try those two for size.
I have already shared publicly my radical recommendations to PAC Chair Panday. Take matters into own hands. Assemble the PAC. Report to the nation. Let the chips fall. Whatever smoke flares, the PPP will have to clear. I move along.
It’s said there’s no rest for the devil. The PPP came at WIN again, applied another chokehold. Any interest in a presence on the Constitutional Reform Commission is the product of a pipedream. Or whatever was put into that pipe. Smoke it and spit it out of the system. Hon Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, SC, MP, was the enthusiastic messenger. I reflect on the quantity of energy put in by the PPP Govt to deliver this kind of democracy.
The PPP in front and behind (recognition of Opposition Leader, HE-OL meeting, taking proper place in parliament, PAC, then constitutional commission). The PNC covers the flanks of WIN, with seats at GECOM seized as if in solidarity with the PPP. The PPP had offered ‘critical support’ to Burnham’s PNC. Today, the PNC returns the favour to Jagdeo’s PPP. Sorry, Dr. Ali’s. I erred on the oil money controller. Since WIN can’t find space in any recognized democratic space, thanks to the PPP and PNC, my recommendation is short, sweet, and simple. Take up the only choice left. Take up residence in the streets.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
Discussion