I wish I could support the coalition’s position, but I can’t
DEAR EDITOR,
I read the remarks from CARICOM Secretary General Irwin Larocque re Guyana’s elections and the role of the entity’s observers/scrutineers. Unfortunately, the latter have gone from highly hailed to doggedly detested almost overnight following the release of that disputed report. But it is on Ambassador Larocque that I wish to focus and share a few thoughts.
I have had the privilege of sharing a few encounters with him, his spouse, and two of his children. My impression is that he is an honourable man, and a strong one, also. He has to be given his pivotal oversight role in the regional body, and the public stand that he has had to make on the work product and judgement of the 3-member team of scrutineers from CARICOM. His position is that there is confidence in the work of the team, and in its conclusions.
Editor, given that in the formula of Guyana’s elections, the hopes and aspirations of almost half of this country’s population of men, women, and children inevitably are dashed when elections are over, it is not easy for some of us to posit casually (or without basis or crookedly) that one side or the other has lost. For what that usually means is that the losing half has nothing left on which to pin anything, up to and including existence. It is as if life itself has no meaning anymore.
Thus, for Secretary General Larocque, an outsider, yet very much an insider in terms of his roles and responsibilities, to go in any one direction is difficult in the extreme. Believe it or not, it is the same for some of us, in which I include myself.
As much as I wanted to see a coalition victory, it has to be on grounds that do not fly so overwhelmingly in the face of what is commonsense, but what is so straight that it could pass muster before any reasonable bar, standards universally practiced and accepted. For the umpteenth time, what we are being presented with now, argued spuriously for or against, rests on the shaky shoals of allegations without evidence, and futile strivings for admissibility after the last testimonies mutually agreed to are over, and with the flimsy and transparently self-serving fluid. To put differently, I discern men shouting about their own genuineness and strength via this or that position, when all that they possess is guile and the made up, and in container size volumes.
Editor, I wish to be clear on something else. This is extremely difficult for me to say about the prospects and reality of the coalition’s elections circumstances, but I cannot do or be otherwise. Like Ambassador Larocque (and others) if there were any grounds on which to support the coalition’s continuing truths, then I would be there. But there is less and less, as the days drag along. In addition, it is hard for me to be in this position, because of the meager regard I have for the opposition leadership, both of the past and as poised for the present. I could be wrong, and I hope for the sake of the people in this society who place much trust in them that I am. I think that, with few exceptions, there is much that is of the incorrigible across the board, and of which some of their own bosom people recognize but are reluctant to admit before any, including themselves; this is the extent of their denial, such is the paramountcy of the party and the personal ambitions of the supporting cast. I say this, even though I pray fervently that I am off the mark on this, way off. Time will prove one way or another.
To wrap this up, I liken the coalition’s position, and that of those who support, as the equivalent of clutching at what they know are the weakest of straws made of thread, to that of trying to squeeze size 12 feet in a pair of size 6 shoes. This just does not work. Is not worth the wrestling in vain. And fails convincingly with both feet. It is where I am, and I think Secretary General Larocque, too. It is an illustration that all Guyanese could appreciate. I/we want it to fit, but it does not. It is relatively more attractive than all the rest, but it has to be let go. Disappointment. Moving on. Starting over. I go forward.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall