OPINION: Opposition trapped in language of race and corruption

Last Updated on Thursday, 24 October 2024, 19:34 by Writer

By Dr. Randy Persaud, Professor Emeritus

Sound policy agendas and effective communication of those policies are the backbone of successful political parties in competitive political systems. This is especially true in countries where the values of democracy undergird political conduct. Yet, many never seem to get this basic lesson.

In Guyana, for instance, instead of sound policies and corrersponding media output, the current opposition continues to be trapped in a language of race. For them, race is the cause of everything, and race is the answer to everything. For them, race is like a God: omnipresent, omnipotent.

When race does not work for them, they resort to another over-exploited symbol, namely, ‘corruption’. Government policies they don’t agree with, are automatically deemed ‘corrupt.’ Anyone they do not like is labelled ‘corrupt’. Even prosecution of those charged with electoral fraud has been declared ‘corrupt’. And further still, prosecution of the truly corrupt, is labelled corrupt.

Substance does not matter. Truth for them died a long time ago. What matters is technique, that is, how you represent (actually misrepresent) things is what really counts. They already have the most powerful media on their side. Tell a lie repeatedly, and it shall become the truth. That is their motto.

It all depends on how it sounds on a particular day, and the political purpose of the manufactured indictment. All too often, these alchemists combine race and corruption and then spit out fantastic plasma cocktails of hate and cultural division. The chief exponent lives in Brooklyn.

The current masquerade by the opposition concerns a Guyana Police Force’s Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) probe into the “…personal and business bank accounts connected to Assistant Police Commissioner, Calvin Brutus, his wife Adonika Aulder and their minor son…” (Demerara Waves Online News, 10/19/2024). According to media reports, “SOCU …says in court papers that Mr. Brutus is facing more than 240 charges in connection with GY$800 million worth of transactions” (Ibid).

At first, the opposition baselessly stated that they did not trust the government to do an impartial investigation. But once it became clear that this line of attack won’t work, the opposition then made it out to be a race matter. That hasn’t worked either.

Fortunately, we are living in a connected world. This means that the campaign of lies launched to ruin the prestige of the PPPC administration in Guyana is much more difficult to find favor. Members of the international media and the diplomatic community are well aware of the machinations employed by the opposition and their associates in Brooklyn and elsewhere.

As usual, the opposition wants to take a perfectly legal matter before the judicial system in Guyana to another level, one where they can twist the normal operation of state institutions into something diabolical.

Regarding the same Brutus family case noted above, the opposition called on the US to cut off funding for the GPF. No such thing was done. Yet it did not stop the CGID from issuing a statement claiming the contrary. This kind of disinformation is typical.

What U.S. Ambassador Nicole Theriot did do was to emphasize “that …she would not be drawn into comment…” on Guyana-US security cooperation based on the allegation in question. This is a clear rebuke of what the opposition was trying to achieve.

In the meantime, one wonders why the CGID is not interested in the situation of the New York Mayor’s office.

The opposition in Guyana is trapped in the regressive narratives of race and corruption. They are mentally hemmed in and can see no escape. Race and corruption are the central pillars not only of their imagination, but also the main bases through which they mobilize and maintain supporters.

Dr Randy Persaud is an adviser at the Office of the President.