By GHK Lall-Guyanese have seen this cycle before. It begins with a tragedy, which fuels peaceful protests, which then spirals uncontrollably. The larger protests get, the greater the opportunities for infiltrating for criminal purposes. Protests over one tragedy degrade into that other regular Guyana tragedy. Looting and burning, intimidating and robbing, takeover and change the entire complexion of the protests. Finally, the conclusions flourish, such as who are tricksters and authors, standing code words for political orchestrators and instigators.
A child named Adrianna Younge dies in circumstances that leave Guyanese groping for answers. I look at that picture making the rounds, and two things register. First, how innocence suffers, and how heartaches will linger for a lifetime. Gone and already forgotten, other than for her loved ones. Forgotten, because hoary, ugly Guyana politics has stepped into the story, with her tragedy all but banished.
I read that President Ali blandly calling for her name to become a launchpad for unity and harmony. This leader is either hysterical, hallucinatory, or a first-rate formulator of the hypocritical. Because President Ali is such a clever-as-a-spanner leader, he could be labouring under all three: the hysterical, hallucinatory, and hypocrisy at its shoddiest.
Was President Ali not the one speaking so brightly recently about the protests being “politically instigated?” But there he is today, as if that record has been wiped clean, and now drooling charm and leadership bonhomie with unity and harmony. The sorun for Excellency Ali is that he now thinks that he is a man without a shadow, one who walks and leaves no prints. More Guyanese see through his empty constructions, recognise a leader that is a brainwasher and a mind manipulator.
In a phrase, the fewest trust him. It is why there is a school of thought in Guyana that believes the PPP of Ali started out with its back to the wall, when Ms. Adriana Younge disappeared. When the police came up with poorly branded piece of fake news, and the child was then found lifeless in a swimming pool, some of the life went out of the PPP. The wind that it had sowed came back with the scything power of the whirlwind. Family and citizens not trusting answers given, nor those recruited, nor what the latter reported.
In such situations, as the pressures built, and the president wilted, the cynical believe that the PPP dug deep for an old card, and stuck it in the face of Guyanese. Looting and burning and attacking. Not only the much-maligned ‘criminal element’ benefits from the booty snatched. The sentiment is that ruling politicians do, for they get to point a finger at opponents and say ‘they did it.’ It is their people, and it is their history. From the jaws of defeat, there is the ecstasy of victory, a sneaky one eked out.
For its part, the PNC has made its position unambiguous: no support for looting. No looter coddled, and no looter owned. Is that believable, is the Opposition Leader credible, the cynics ask; just like they do for Pres. Ali, since “politically instigated” and ‘no support for looting’ are now both orphans. If the looters are neither of PPP nor PNC vintage, then to whom do they belong? It is unimaginable that it could be the family or the community, so that leaves only fatherless criminal elements.
I think that this mystery is best addressed by who benefits the most from thuggery and banditry? The PNC’s name gets another ducking in dirty water, but of what value is that to it? Meanwhile, the PPP having set the stage with “politically instigated” gets to look like a winner. For when protests are infiltrated and the peaceful descends into the gutter of looting and intimidating, snatching and sending everybody running for safe cover, the PPP’s wavering support base is brought back into the center of the fold.
I put this differently: ayuh see fuh yu’all self wah wee seh? Is dem peeple, and is suh de stay. Plundering and harming commerce and citizens. Ah, but Guyanese are not that stupid; not like before. Nowadays, the doubters ask: Who has a history with playing that trick before? Who was allowed to get away with it, under the cover that such belongs to the PNC, the thinkers and deep divers question?
There is another benefit from mayhem and mob madness. The rattled foreign investor community gets to absorb the heavy hand of the PPP Government, and how much it has matters under tight control. A test case that the PPP Government subdued authoritatively, conclusively. Did it, really? Or, what Guyanese saw was how skillfully domestic mercenaries and phantoms could be used to infiltrate and devastate.
It was Opposition Leader Norton who himself had the foresight to ring that bell: protests are out, for that falls right into the PPP tarpit. So, the question now is this: did he change his mind, or did the PPP of Ali made it look as if he did? The US Government knows the true substance of the PPP Government. The Yanks get to decide if the PPP is the kind of government that comforts American investors. This is the compass and climate of cynicism now prevalent in Guyana.