Never let a good crisis go to waste… a quote attributed to the great Sir Winston Churchill now hijacked by the New York Sausage Machine feigning some sort of political sagacity in this time of national disruption.
The crisis at hand is the vote of no confidence which has suddenly thrust the nation’s Constitution on to center stage.
Out of evil cometh good…
The Constitution, the document that prescribes the powers delegated to
Government and implies Government’s responsibility to exercise only wisdom in its application of this power, has finally been retrieved from the cubby hole it was banished to- depleting amendments by the previous administration and all- to address a vote that still confounds many on how it even made its way to the floor, given the specious basis for its argument.
The result has now engendered the engagement of the extended Guyanese
community, many of legal predisposition, who are combing through the Constitution and sharing their thoughts.
And this is where we get perplexed, not only because we feel less is more but because of the vessel through which the thoughts are borne.
Social and local media are now awash with these surmises – the Article 156.3 (a) and (b) of the Guyana constitution – that render an embarrassingly comical Jekyll and Hyde delivery in a a multi-syllabled lexicon and grammatical structure that is consistent with academia and Guyana’s first language on one hand and the trade mark mix of bad spelling and syntax deconstruction, peppered with manufactured quips and un-sourced quotes, that is the signature of the NY Sausage Machine, on the other.
We would like to think that the citations of the Constitution are some genuine legal references but if they are, why would the sages behind this message use this messenger, known more for dexterity in manufacturing evidence and cutting and pasting video footage, than for honest delivery of undoctored material? Why risk losing credibility by passing such critical information near this tarnished actor, far more through this source of ill repute, a veritable laughing stock being the single Board member of manufactured organizations and consortiums?
Crisis indeed, as agents of the Government endorse this media mascot in toto; flagrantly disregarding the incongruence of the copy and paste of the legal reference with attendant narration in grammatical disorder….
….I’m often frowned upon for citing these things but I’m unapologetically fluent in my country’s official language .
Then there are the other finger –pointers…the ones who have suddenly been imbued with ‘see-farism’…who knew all along that there would have been a defection but are only saying something now… because …why let a good crisis go to waste!
Maybe they did know and may have even tried to warn the government and failed to get their attention but if that were so, why didn’t they take to the airwaves back then, like they are now, incessantly, to alert us all to the impending vote, warn us that a specific MP was being amorously courted by the Opposition that had already filleted the Constitution to the bone with hundreds of Amendments that would benefit a single Party and a single ruler…albeit one by puppeteering? What point are they trying to prove by belaboring their point..if not to ride the crisis to some form of visibility?
I received a message from a strident and pledged for life PPP member who sent me some legal analysis by Anil Nandlall and asked for me to post it to Face Book Group Xpressblogg Chat Central …since I have such a “heavy “international Community following”.
I responded by saying there are three words that do not belong in the same sentence: Anil, Nandlall and Legal.
So, I’ve neither posted nor read said analysis because Nandlall, as Attorney General, will remain colored by the atrocities Guyana endured under his stewardship as leading law man, by the threats he made to Kaieteur News and against the lives of some of its employees, his believable association with Guyana’s criminal element, especially Roger Khan and those of his ilk, the linking of name with the assassination of Crum –Ewing, and the partial application of the law against too many Guyanese…to name a few reasons.
There are the formations of Political Parties, too, that feel this crisis is a short cut to the hearts of the electorate. To me, that is testament that their mission is for personal aggrandizement and not national betterment.
I will, on the other hand, throw my support behind any group that has been consistently fighting for the people, that has a track record of speaking truth to power, accomplished goals as a result of singularity of purpose and fierce stoicism against the entrenched establishment.
That would exclude, unequivocally, Henry Jeffrey of veneered political prowess and abject lack of understanding of the Memorandums of Understanding his intellectual incuriosity led him to sign with depraved abandon for untold sums of Guyana’s patrimony. In a photo finish would be the exclusion of seasoned politician, Ralph Ramkarran, a 50 year political veteran and formidable legal infantry for the PPP, who was all for Nigel Hughes’ logic until he thought he would get a better slice of the crisis by issuing a coy mea culpa for curiously confusing “votes with abstentions” then linked arms with Jeffery to form his own Political Party – with his flexible integrity and knowledge inexact.
Listen.
The tension in Guyana’s politics, post colonialism, remains the rhetoric of ideology and the reality of racism.
So, for those who continue to flog the losing Coalition by suggesting Jagdeo is some sort of evil genius, I say evil I will take.
Genius I will not be so generous with even if it’s a gratuity to accompany evil.
And it’s not a symmetry of the stars either.
What is the exact mix of incompetence and ill intent?
Mr. Chrandass Persaud was an outspoken member of the AFC, supporting many Coalition bills until he felt he was overlooked for a Ministerial position and was back benched as a Member of Parliament. Then his outspokenness for the government became complaints against it. Who was paying attention? Where was AFC’s Leadership in ensuring that he was a solid supporter of the party, especially since he had reputedly resigned from the Party in 2013 then denied he had resigned and returned to his place amongst its ranks? Was he ever considered as a porous point and if so why not?
His vote against his Party by his own admission was a well thought out plan…so much so that he hardly slept the night before. He cited several reasons too, one being the failure of the Coalition to create a promised 2000 jobs. At no point did he say that he discussed his grouses with his peers, though he alluded often to his conscience.
Therein lies the mix of incompetence and ill intent; a perfect storm for a caucus with a badly negotiated one vote lead.
That said, it would be good if the wound-licking from the PNCR doesn’t include public posts of alleged statements of Charandass “accepting bribe” for his vote. Such assertions, when not sourced and wimpishly signed ‘PNCR’ , as opposed to person who could be contacted for verification, carry the fetid smell of the kind of politics that has brought us to this point.
It’s also the kind of publication that could assure a visit from the first cousins, Slander and Libel.
Guyanese who are independent thinkers are evaluating the circumstances surrounding the No Confidence victory of the PPP. The body language of their MP’s during the Charandass defection speaks volumes as did their relative demureness throughout the session with their programmed clapping on table tops-this typically raucous lot.
Stooping to conquer through deceptive suggestions will not win over the independent voter.
Rising to the occasion would be the better course of action to reassure those who entrusted you with their vote and to invite those who prefer truthfulness, candor, and transparency; even when the platform is politics.
