OPINION: The Guyana High Commissioner hitting low watermark in India

Last Updated on Wednesday, 26 October 2022, 7:57 by Denis Chabrol

by GHK Lall

It takes a special talent, an extraordinary person, for anyone located anywhere in the world to steal the thunder of new British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.  On the history making day of Tuesday, October 25th, one of not the Russian Revolution, but of an English one, a Guyanese all the way over by the Himalayas succeeded in spoiling Rishi’s crowning moment of arrival.  For one of Indian extraction to inflict such an atrocity on another Indian is a shade beyond the pale.  I mean the Guyanese Indian could have picked another day to do whatever he had to do, and avoid making a spectacle of himself.

The problem with my thinking is that a good man can’t be keep down.  Not for long.  Not one that has the pedigree of holding a whole nation in suspense during that no confidence exercise, and then changing the course of Guyanese history.  They tell me that it is for the better.  But of the wrongness of that posture and conviction I have never been more certain than anything else in my life.  The former MP, now current High Commissioner by the Ganges, is a man who just seem to attract the limelight; or when that proves to be elusive, create his own spotlight.  I humbly suggest taking a bath in that sacred river.

Considering the delicacy of the situation, I handle gingerly, since I am leery of fake news, fake images, and fake people.  Though there are over a billion people in that corner of the world, and the probability of finding a twin to the High Commissioner is higher, the speech patterns and mannerisms are what gave away.  Oh, and before I forget, the language.  It certainly doesn’t fit with my idea of what diplomatic restraint, diplomatic etiquette, and diplomatic comportment ought to be.  But, then again, the PPP Government has its own standards for such protocols.  The PPP might be a magnet today for those who turnaround, but diplomatic conduct is not a turnkey undertaking.  In other words, one size doesn’t fit all, and most people are just not cut out for that kind of job.  The language was the giveaway, and the attitude is what gave up the goose.  Some Guyanese are detectable wherever they go, no matter how far they are posted to keep them out of trouble, they end up getting themselves into some messy affair.  Some people can’t help themselves, and with the strength and authority of an indebted government, the PPP, fully committed to his cause, the High Commissioner could rest easy.  He is safe.  For now.

Look at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International (something) wasting no time in running to the rescue of the PPP Government’s prized Far Eastern asset.  According to the people at Foreign Affairs, the matter is closed.  I have a simple, little question: sez who?  The Indian Government has not come out saying so.  Moreover, the Indian Police has not given any clearance or closure to the Guyana High Commissioner, who did a seeming injustice to the rising son of their soil (by extension), Rishi.  What the Guyana HC did is really unforgivable.  He could have done his nasty business at another time.

Contemplating all this, I think the Indian Government is now in a position to do a little bargaining of its own.  Just like how the then Opposition PPP did with the then ruling PNC MP (let’s cut to the quick here, shall we?), and now High Commissioner.  The Indians have to have heard of His Excellency, President, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali speaking of reserving some oil blocks to facilitate ‘government to government’ arrangements.  The British already got theirs (count on it) by gifting Guyanese visa-free travel to London.  As I see matters, it is now the turn of the subcontinent Indians to use the High Commissioner as a bargaining chip to assure itself of at least one of those potentially fabulously rich oil blocks.  That is, unless the results of Exxon’s seismic mapping has already leaked out that those are underperformers, if not outright duds.  I am sorry, but that is what I learned from my fellow Americans.  I am similarly sorry that I had to use those two words ‘bargaining chip’, for I would rather not sully this writing with talk of government-to-government blackmail.  After all, some of the Indian Government leaders, as dreadful as the big ones are, don’t operate like Putin by holding onto basketball players.  I don’t foresee Guyana’s High Commissioner being jailed, or dispatched to a penal colony, though the thought is tempting.  Interestingly, I heard that the Indian Police is saying that what was claimed to be done does not fall under immunity.

Regardless of how this shapes up and pans out, of this I am sure: some men can’t keep their nose clean, and out of trouble.  But that is not the High Commissioner’s concern.  Truth be told, it is a big one for the PPP Government and its bigwigs.  What to do in this situation?  How to let this man go quietly into the night?  And this is regarding a gentleman who knows nothing about quietly or tactfully or obediently.  I say this because Guyanese really don’t know the whole story (I mean nothing left out) about that no confidence vote. If a man jumped ship before, there is no telling what he would or could do when pressure comes.  Or if he senses that he is being fed to the dogs, and suddenly has no friends to welcome him back into the fold.

Still, because I believe in second chances and third leases on life, I recommend to the PPP Government that it posts the High Commissioner to India over to New Zealand or Italy.  New Zealand is cheaper, as it is nearby, and both countries have women Prime Ministers, which should make for interesting relationships.  Meanwhile, in Guyana, Rishi has already been overshadowed by local events.  Stone the crows!