Dear Editor,
Like almost everything local, the internationals have a say. Want to have quarrelsome, nettlesome, elections started out and sorted out in some form or fashion? Foreigners are ready. Interested in getting a vote count that can be relied upon, there is Europe, North America, the OAS, and sturdy evergreen CARICOM ready to roll up sleeves and start counting on their fingers. Need help with what is comatose, a patient named constitutional reform, the white people are prepared to manifest their commitment to noblesse oblige, and toiling with the burdens peculiar to their race, as so illuminated by Rudyard Kipling. And just when I thought that the foreigners could call it a day, peel off their gloves, and knock back a stiff slug, there was still some unfinished business left in Guyana.
Ever hear about a parliamentary roadblock? No? Then try this one: how about chronic, crippling parliamentary and leader of the house (speaker) constipation? Well, Guyana is it. The foreigners come here with a pile of business priorities clutched in their hands. They didn’t count on getting sucked in, and having to deal with so much political business. It’s a drag, really. Gets in the way of some exciting strands of commerce to report back to one of the old-world capitals.
Restarting of parliament and naming a Leader of the Opposition have long been pending. The National Assembly cannot assemble. The Speaker can’t speak. The PPP gov’t can’t govern, even with a seven-seat majority. What kind of country is this? Is this a country? Really? But there is the European Union’s Ambassador to Guyana, Excellency Luca Pierantoni, all but giving a guarantee that parliament will be swinging, and the Leader of the Opposition will be winging. Relative to the latter, it could be from the rafters, or in the friendly skies to the wintry North. He knows what he is talking about, with an eye on the national budget; and with a belt of hours put in behind closed doors to get parliament going.
For there was Ambassador Pierantoni saying he would be “rather surprised” if parliament in still in its truancy phase, and refused to report, arranged. “Rather surprised” is not approaching in reverse gear. It’s that parliament is a done deal, due to the hours put in by the foreign diplomatic delta force. Pres. Ali, VP Jagdeo, and AG Nandlall are all sewed up and locked-in. No worries. Interesting how the PPP Gov’t slid out of this molasses situation, and called on a foreigner to ring a welcoming bell with the doors of parliament flung open. Surely, a Guyanese could have been found in the sprawling PPP Gov’t apparatus to relay to citizens that their house would soon be in order.