Who is "mining" the chicken coop?
Distractions! Distractions! Apparently the opposition APNU and its supporters are masters at being easily led away from the prize. A couple of days ago, there was a photograph of an obviously thin VP BharratJagdeo making the rounds on social media. As it was clearly mined from his Face Book page, it is not photo shopped as was the speculation in some quarters.
The continued circulation of photographs such as the abovementioned, arguably have no merit save that of providing a few cheap laughs. For instance, how is it addressing the real issues impoverished Guyanese face such as the continued lack of opportunities to improve their lot by successive governments? How is it dealing with the proposed changes to electoral laws? How is it addressing the resurgence of murders of predominantly Afro-Guyanese men by security forces? How is it addressing the issue of the thousands of Afro-Guyanese who are experiencing discrimination at the hands of the ruling PPP government? How is it dealing with the high violent crime rate and addressing the social factors contributing to same?
All rhetorical questions, since the constant harping and circulating of bloopers change absolutely nothing. The fact remains that the PPP is still in power and the aforementioned issues continue unabated.
It is more than one year since the PPP took office. The initial shock of the poor grammar, diction, deportment and the inept manner in which President Irfaan Ali delivers himself at both the local and international levels, ought to have waned somewhat. Do not assume that it is by any means more acceptable with the passage of time. Absolutely not. It remains an embarrassment and a stain on a country that not only once boasted of having the highest literacy rate in the English speaking Caribbean, but has produced and continues to produce outstanding scholars.
Back to the question with which I began. Who is "mining" the chicken coop? I dare say certainly not the current opposition leaders. Former President David Granger remains mute on many of the above issues faced daily not only by the opposition's constituents but by the ordinary citizen-at-large.
Instead, occasionally he composes, grandiose academic meandering treatises such as the "delusion of chavismo" carried by The Village Voice online newspaper on November 12th. Seriously, is the former president so out of touch with reality that he thinks people who are struggling to feed their families will be remotely interested in reading same? To whom is he addressing that press statement? What is Granger saying about the proposed changes to the electoral laws? Why is the opposition not out there agitating against those changes? Up to now, he has not spoken directly with the general membership of the party following the loss of the election. That in itself is mind boggling and a bit contemptuous. However, it is unsurprising as local politicians are not known for their servant leadership qualities.
Likewise, the lot now vying for the posts of leader and chairman of the PNC-R party. Here again, the distracting photographs are making the social media rounds. Recently, there was a poster of Joe Harmon for leader which contained a rather distasteful reference to his competition Aubrey Norton. How would same have served any purpose other than to discredit Harmon? It must be noted that Harmon has since disavowed the poster. No right thinking person would be impressed by that sort of mudslinging. The foregoing demonstrates once more that the eyes are not on the prize. Instead, supporters seem to be content with immature and amateur behaviour, as opposed to working on a plan on how to win the next general election.
More over, Lincoln Lewis in a recent Eye on Guyana column in the Village Voice, referred to Ali's gaffes at the recent COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland. He stated that Ali's "presentation is moving from concern to national disgrace."
Be that as it may, for all the criticisms leveled at Ali and the government, it does not seem as though the PPP government is neither interested in deportment, nor in how it is viewed in the international realm. All that matters is that it is in power. Whether or not the country has some type of standards appears to absolutely be of no moment to the government. Quite frankly, it is likely happy that people are consumed by the cheap laughs. Thus, the giving away of the patrimony of Guyana to the families and friends of the PPP government is going largely unnoticed. Further, although Ali himself, will continue to have problems with speaking publicly unless he avails himself of elocution lessons, it is not likely that his son and heir will. The probability is high that Ali's son will grow up well-educated and wealthy. Meanwhile, the distracted will have their perfect speech patterns but be poor and their children may be the same. Perhaps now unable to speak well because they will only be exposed to a rundown education system.
Ergo, I have come full circle to where I began. It is time for the opposition and its supporters to move beyond the distractions. From the moment the election was lost, it should have been boots on the ground, working and strategising on how to regain lost ground. It simply serves no purpose to engage in distractions while being inattentive to the much bigger problems.
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