OPINION: Why not me? Yet another political arrival in the making…

Last Updated on Wednesday, 30 October 2019, 8:41 by Writer

by GHK Lall

I have to get in the action. I am rearing to go, as rich action, it promises to be. Who can resist? Not me!

I confess to temptation. Why not? I yield to the pull of the people. I assure one and all, it has nothing to do with oil. In de minimis terms: I commit to power to the people, by the people, for the people. I go further: this has nothing to do with those who rule well (according to some) or those capable of only misrule (as affirmed immovably by still many others). Those who do so, for good or bad, will stand on their own strengths. Or fall on what is left of their faces because of them. As a quick aside, it should be noticed that the verb of choice two sentences ago was rule. It is deliberate. For what we have always had here in Guyana are monarchs and madmen (panjandrums mostly) who rule over submissive masses. Nothing less than obeisance (the kowtowing so characteristic of the Ming Dynasty) from the tricked and trapped is found acceptable. Who would call that governance? Certainly, not me. And that is why I step up to the podium before the populace. Here I am: your servant, your savior, your solution. Believe! What is there to lose? I can’t be worse than the other guys. Nobody can. Nothing ain’t bite me. Additionally, I am ready to relinquish citizenship. Why not try me?

I submit for initial screening (low-level, lost-cost, low-class market research, and at low volume, too), that which I am proud to own; and, though it is currently the brainchild of one man and a sole proprietorship, I still dare to call it the Guyana Diaspora Party (GDP). All are founder members, whether they like it or not. All are welcomed. All are leaders. There are no masters. Come to daddy. Guyanese who have come back; citizens who are still over there; and patriots praying for their turn to leave these shores. That could be everybody, a real mass-movement party, literally and politically. And if the GDP (take note economists and financiers) does not get off the ground, there is then the fallback of the Prolific Writers Group (PWG). The wise should notice something akin to the venerable and prestigious Price Waterhouse in that construction. It is not accidental, but purposeful, as in well thought out.

Thinking people, we are; real writers have to be more than scribblers. They must be real thinkers: deep, expansive, boundaryless, cascading. Writers and repatriates, with political aspirations, have other highly sought-after qualities. We know how to count more than everyone else, whether phrases or figures; and with special relevance to this place at these tricky times, in the sensitive and always thorny matter of votes, we writers are the best counters of those voters who did or didn’t. The bona fide ones. Get this straight: nobody ain’t cheating this writer and party. Not with what was set in motion to get to this point, not with what is now at stake. The fabulous five hundred billion-dollar Guyana oil stakes, that would be. That’s worth training for, sacrificing for, dying for, come to think of it. Some will.

We have still other skills. We know how to take care of the money other people earn. For emphasis, earn. It should be noted that there is nothing about legitimacy or source or lifestyle or the cornucopias of conspicuous consumption. We watch it. We account for it. And, we write about it. Anything and everything: money launderers and clandestine corrupters, beware! There goes a major constituent segment. Oh, well…

And if both of those seasonal concoctions fail to find a responsive voter transaction, then there is the ace held in reserve for just such chilly election temperatures. I venture to label this one, The non-Indian, non-African, non-Indigenous, non-Mixed Peoples’ Syndicate. I hasten to assure that though is our thing, Guyana’s Cosa Nostra, there is no Mafia connection. I hasten also from compiling or sharing an acronym. I simply call it the Guyanese All Race Party. Every Guyanese can be assured of an open door and a welcoming roof here.

This I say, it is not communist, nor capitalist, nor elitist, though the latter does have a pleasing ring to it. It is neither Catholic not Anglican, nor Lutheran nor of any of the non-Christian majors. I hurry to share that it is not atheistic, either. Having been frank and fearless about disclosing all those elements about what this political party is not, I object to any pressure from any source to specify what it actually stands for, what it is about, or what are its visions and where it is going. When I figure out all of those pesky little manifesto issues, I would be the first to share. That is, if I ever get around to misused and overused pacifiers. Who needs them, anyways? What use are they? Not when there are other deeper visions harbored.

In the meantime, I am all focused on giving the favorites fits. They deserve so. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer set of people. Soon they will be off. Already have, haven’t they? Now here I come from nowhere and from out of the backstretch…. It is to the wire. I am watching over my shoulder for any fouls. It is a crowded field, with horses named ABC, EU, UN, CUP, and PALM. As for me, I will settle for Guyanese Pharaoh. Wish me well.

Mr. GHK Lall is a Guyanese author, columnist and former financial analyst on Wall Street.