OPINION: Baby Skello and Vybz Kartel: the PPP’s selectively sensitive exhibited

Last Updated on Wednesday, 14 May 2025, 16:55 by Writer

By GHK Lall

Did somebody say religious desecration, through a divine one profaned? I laud the wounded Hindus of Guyana for raising a hue and cry. For to do anything else would besmirch themselves. Did somebody say ‘look at the PPP machinery coming out in full battle armor and engaging in spirited warfare in defense of Hindus victimized by what assaults their worship’? Yes, it did; oh yes, it does. I congratulate the PPP, as a group and as a government that knows when to say what has to be said. But I ask Dr. Irfaan Ali and Dr. Bharat Jagdeo and Dr. Anil Nandlall, and that other lovely gentleman from the agency devoted to Culture: what about what happened before? Right here in Guyana, bhais? Why the different strokes when there are different folks, Dr. Jagdeo? I point to a Jamaican man, who was heartily welcomed into this country, and set free to do his ting. Ladies and gentlemen of this grand Republic, I present Mr. Vybz Kartel. Singer and dancer and performer extraordinaire from Kingston to Georgetown. Those lyrics! Man! Those lyrics!

I should be offended as a Christian. I say so to Dr. Ali, the guts and graciousness of the PPP. Age and experience have combined to make my skin thicker. Why was that entertainer, Mr. Vybz Kartel, allowed to set foot in this town when he was the composer, hence owner, of those insulting, degrading, disgusting lyrics that offended Christian sensibilities? Different folks, different strokes. My interpretation, my conclusion, stands unmoving. It is fine by me for the PPP to stand in support of a proven constituency. To get its agents in the State conglomerate to spring into action and register their disapproval, issue their warnings against those who despoil the sanctity of the worship of those held at the bosom. All of that is okay by me. What is not so palatable is when the same PPP Government and the same PPP top brass were conspicuously silent, pretended to be ignorant (perhaps, they are ignorant, and not just about Jamaican music), about the depths of what Vybz Kartel represented in his songs. When they were silent then, they cannot talk today of One Guyana. When they invited and rolled out the red carpet (what other color could it be, given the state of this country under the PPP!) for Vybz Kartel and made it possible for him to put on his great, big show, only Christians were offended. And, as it was in the days of the Romans, Christians don’t count for much in the PPP Government’s schemes and themes.

But Mr. Baby Skello comes and delivers his toxic stuff, and men and women in the PPP are rushing over one another to register their disgust, their loyalty to the Hindu community in its hour of musical ravaging. I didn’t utter a word when Vybz Kartel came with his songs and dances, and danced his way into the hearts of the PPP crème de la crème. I have weathered worst storms, so he and his monstrosities were on the house, i.e., from me to the PPP. I love these guys like brothers. And like the older brother that I am, there are those times when I must set them straight, by teaching (yes, by teaching) them what is right. In a deeply divided society, in a bitterly antagonistic national community, there must be leadership consistency. It comes from leadership sensitivity and leadership commitment to integrity. The spiritual integrity of all. The musical ethos and integrity of all who scratch out a song and share it by singing it before an audience of all Guyanese, be they Hindu, or Christian, or Muslim, or Buddhist, or atheist. Be they be about a different kind of orientation and lifestyle. Be they be about a different strain of skin color. Be they be about a different type of political complexion.

I should not be writing about these things, because a government like the PPP is above these things. It is vigilant, it is consistent, it is competent. What and who it lets in, and who it does not leave alone to carry on and create a storm. The righteous indignation – indeed, the religious wrath – of those of the Hindu persuasion is totally justified, understood. I wish that the people in the suddenly overwhelmingly pious PPP Government behind the star attraction of Mr. Vybz Kartel were more circumspect, were more thoughtful. I wish that they were more respectful of Christians and women and others, when they embraced his arrival here, in some ways even encouraged it. When one section of Guyanese is cared for more, then Guyana is not a country, it is a clan. When another section is held at a lower height, then the fingers on the PPP’s political hand are that uneven. What goes for Mr. Baby Skello should have been the standard for Mr. Vybz Kartel. Maybe, there will be better judgment the next time around.