OPINION: The invisible tentacles of politics

Last Updated on Wednesday, 23 July 2025, 17:34 by Writer

By GHK Lall

A strand of hair rose in fear on the back of my neck. I slapped it down. Demerara Bank yesterday; there may be others in the lineup tomorrow. A time for indirect action at a citizen under sanction. Sever the banking connection between five Guyanese; imperil their leader under sanction. I hear adherence to international standards, but of democracy’s standards, nothing. And before those, there is something called the standards, those virtues, and sacrosanct features that are inseparable from Independence. Guyana was still an independent nation last time I checked. Admittedly, it was ages ago; much could have changed in the interim. Now there is oil, a ballooning giant by itself. There is America, a colossus, the likes of which has never been seen; and bigger than it has ever been in Guyana. There is Exxon; Exxon is America, and Exxon also means Venezuela. Trapped somewhere in there is Guyana, with the PPP Government tied like a pig: ropes around its cloven hooves, ropes connecting its shackled feet to its neck. At the bottom, this is also about power, retaining it by any means necessary. Don’t ask me how, but I see an invisible hand, hear inaudible whispers: wrap Mohamed into knots. Democracy in action, or the lust for power? Or, mortal dread over a potent competitor? Remove his surrounding pillars, and down and out he goes.

The bank says its action is about policy and standards. There’s an odor suggestive of hogwash; perhaps, the pig itself. It is similar to what companies present to the public when an employee is forced out or fired (the world knows why, but hears this): to facilitate spending more time with family. Whoever wants to consume that excrement is entitled. Count me out. That’s my reaction to the Demerara Bank action. It’s said to be policy. What was left out is how much politics may be construed as saturated Guyana, even regular business, even normally the most pristine of segments, is dirtied, now looks like a flea-ridden dog, and brought to ridicule. How low will politics be allowed to drag this country down? For the record: if there’s a protest in front of Demerara Bank, I’m ready.

Now for more questions. If Mohamed — the newcomer, the upstart, the local political mushroom cloud — was lacking as a potential huge vote-getter, represented an innocuous nobody in the field of political battle, would he have mattered at all, sanctions or none at all? Would the sanctioned Mohamed be subjected to this level of unrelenting attention from the State (Guyana Police, Guyana Taxman, and Guyana-originated US Hatchet-men [Continental…]?

I turn this matter inward. If I were to write something critical against WIN and Mohamed, it is likely that nothing but serenades would follow. But if I pen a line that respects his rights, what happens then? From serenades to personal sanctions? Yes, I answer to the American flag. But I also have that foremost duty: to respond to the commands of my mind, the dictates of my conscience. God forbid, I were to come out and say that I endorse WIN, which means that I just voted for Mohamed the Younger. What then? As an aside, I am not in the endorsement department, unsure of whether the sacred vote will be cast on September 1. As should be detected by now, the thinker in me is insisting that what has unfolded so far and directed at this outsider, this underdog, this outcast (police weapon, tax weapon, lobby weapon, drone weapon, and yesterday the private banking weapon) is neither random nor innocent. The confluence of such an arsenal of weapons is neither routine nor accidental. US President Woodrow Wilson had his arsenal of democracy. Guyana has its arsenal of malignancies, what gives every indication of being political bacteriological warfare in action. Plant a strain and be ready to sing Chopin’s Funeral March.

My thinking is that the sum of what has been directed at Mohamed and his people is not so much about sanctions and compliance. I wouldn’t mind if such were so, but on one condition only. The reasonable test is passed. Fairness standard is met. The clean and aboveboard overwhelm. Unfortunately, there is the contrast that shines blindingly, what I believe is incontestable. What is being directed at the five WIN citizens may be perceived as intended to undermine Mohamed, and sabotage his electoral momentum. It may be construed as being about politics and retention of power, using whatever human and sectoral assets are free and easy to manipulate for advantage. Even a stark, staring, dunderhead would see that as clear as the dawn on a cloudless morn.

Finally, if I can’t stand with a man when the world is arrayed against him, then it says much about the kind of world that I occupy. I don’t have to be for him. I must be me.