OPINION: Guyanese governor, a masterstroke, a call to mend

Last Updated on Sunday, 23 March 2025, 12:40 by Writer

By GHK Lall

Any Guyanese governor of Essequibo will be charged with treason. It is how I like to hear government leaders and ministers speak. No double talk. No hedge language. No skipping and sliding around. I commend Honorable Minister Robeson Benn. In the next breath, and however grudgingly, the slightest nod must be given in the direction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. To announce that a Guyanese would be named Governor of Essequibo qualifies for a stroke of recognition. The Venezuelan leader and his gang are thinking, plotting their moves with cunning and resourcefulness. I sense danger. I don’t like this Guyanese as governor business at all.

What ideas did Maduro just plant in the heads of Guyanese? This man is playing with the minds of Guyanese. What will be his next move? One along the same lines? Think fellow Guyanese, think. I think that what Mr. Maduro is dangling are carrots before locals. Come to me, join with me, and leave the rest to me. If a Guyanese could be considered for governor, then think of the prospects that could be for other Guyanese willing to stand with him.

The Venezuelan leader knows full well how divided Guyana is, with resentments running deep. He must also know how many in Guyana battle with distress and poverty, and are most agitated about it. So, he opens his gift bag. Despite the specter of a treason charge that could be slapped on those dealing with Maduro and Venezuela (and in opposition to Guyana), some Guyanese could be tempted to bite at his bait. In their minds, what have they gained by being loyal to their homeland? What do they stand to lose, when so little has come their way from their own riches? Treason or no treason, this is the predicament in which some Guyanese are going to find themselves. Venezuelan citizenship or Guyanese? First loyalty to Guyana or divided loyalties? I think that this is what Maduro is playing with, will most likely intensify his efforts and appeals.

With respect to Minister Benn, I have misgivings on how the threat of a treason charge would serve as a deterrent. People make choices today, which they believe put them in a better position, only to discover that they made their own bed and it’s over a grave. I encourage my fellow citizens to cast their minds back to the second Great War over three quarters of a century ago. France had fallen before the unstoppable German hordes, and instead of signing up with the French Resistance, some Frenchmen became collaborators with the Nazis. An officer and a hero as high ranking as Marshal Phillippe Pétain spearheaded what history has passed down to us as Vichy France. In times of peace there is usually sharp disagreement; in times of war, there could be what is subversive and self-defeating. If not nipped in the bud, differences can be destructive.

This is what the PPP Government and the combined opposition need to wrap their minds around. I have said it once, and I will say it a thousand times. This country needs genuine and sustaining unity. It will not be achieved through a comforting picture of President Ali and Opposition Leader Norton and their respective teams gathered around a table discussing urgent national sovereignty issues. It is what should have started before. It is not the two leaders saying the right things about holding one head and speaking with one voice about Venezuela. It is about those two elements worked on before any escalation of tensions, and given a chance to grow afterwards through tireless and thankless work. In other words, serious and sustained efforts at fostering real national unity. Of giving every Guyanese the strongest sense that they belong, and they that have a say in the vital decisions impacting their country and their own existence.

It has not been this way for, in effect, Guyana has gone the other way. The bickering and wrangling between the government and opposition (and their camps) have been nonstop, and the arrival of oil only intensified the disunity and rancor in this country. The same oil that Maduro covets, which he says rightfully belongs to Venezuela. Like hell, it does! But where is the government and opposition of Guyana with such visible and vocal energy, other than in moments of high national urgency? Neither the PPP Government nor the Opposition PNC has demonstrated the political will to look beyond the divisive past, and then to invest the political capital that could lead to a different present and future, i.e., a new Guyana. So, the reciprocal carping and cursing has continued uninterrupted; it is only broken when someone in Venezuela brandishes a sword. Nicolás Maduro has done so more than most of his compatriots.

The situation in Guyana is tailormade for Venezuelan opportunists, such as President Maduro. So, he keeps raising the bar on Guyana, through a menu of actions. Now he sweetens the pot to lure unsuspecting or unhappy Guyanese. It is way past the time for the PPP and PNC (and whoever else) to come to their senses. It is now the time for them to be about something and do something that is different, what holds the promise of a united Guyana. It would be a stronger one, a better one.