Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
Aug 15, 2012 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
On Monday evening, Edison Jefford and Rawle Welch, two KN journalists, loaned me the book on corruption in Guyana written and launched last week by G.H.K. Lall (Guyana: A National Cesspool of Greed, Duplicity and Corruption. A Remigrant’s Story). I was advised that the book should be returned early Tuesday morning. I went home at 22:30 hours which meant I had to read it fast. That I did and completed it five minutes past midnight.
It means then that this review may not be as thought out as I would like. It would have been better to have digested Lall’s book in less haste as I did. But I honestly think that if I had more time my assessment would have been different. I had some trepidation in reviewing Lall because he is a writer that has an irritatingly esoteric and exasperatingly recondite style. It is hard to know who or what Lall is writing about.
I once read a column by him in the Stabroek News titled, “The lunatic fringe in Guyana.” I read that piece three times and still cannot detect who Lall was referring to. Was it people in politics, the media, government, civil society? I don’t believe that the lunatic fringe was spelt out in the article. Lall clearly did not want to identify the entity or persons he had in mind. So why write about it? It was a waste of nice use of language. I read another piece on medical mistreatment and there was absolutely no indication of what specific acts he had in mind
Two obvious things strike you as you begin the book. First, it has no date of publication and no printer. I have never met Lall or spoken to him or have seen him. If I have, then I cannot recollect, but I doubt he is a historian. If he was, he would have made sure the publication acknowledges the printer because for the recording of history that is important. Secondly, the book’s foreword could end up distorting history fifty years from now. Written by attorney Gino Persaud, the foreword showers impressive praise on Ralph Ramkarran for speaking out against corruption.
The factual record does not substantiate Gino Persaud. Fifty years from now, readers would think that a man named Ralph Ramkarran was strongly vocal against corruption. Surely, my friend Gino (and we are good friends) knows that Moses Nagamootoo would have been a better choice to quote. Nagamootoo spoke out against graft while he was a senior Cabinet member.
Whatever faults Lall’s publication has, it cannot be denied that this is a remarkable description of a country that is mired in deep moral turpitude. Lall made sure he told his readers that the account is a personal one, based on his encounters with actual persons. But this book could have risen to great heights if Lall didn’t have his Freudian fears. Broad swipes are taken at many institutions. Lall was devastating about the Guyana Revenue Authority, the Deeds Registry, UG and GWI, among others
Lall’s sin is that he did not want to touch the Government. He avoids like the plague any mention of “Cabinet,” “Minister,” or “Government.” In a book that is 224 pages it is almost impossible to avoid castigation of the Government.
Here are Lall’s words in the entire book about the Government (page 95); “Then there is the government. What more can be said about that unmentionable entity?”
But one can ask what more can be said about the GRA, UG etc. So why did Lall write about these things anyway? Was it fear that caused him not to dwell on perhaps one of the world’s most corrupt administrations? I hope not.
Surely, Lall could have done a small chapter (there are many small chapters in the book) on the unspeakable connection between corruption deep within the corridors of power and the underlings in the public sector. Corruption became a nightmare because the high priests in the PPP hierarchy were leading the way and showing their underlings how to enrich themselves.
I refer Lall to my article on the origin and spread of corruption in the PPP Government in the book, “Governance, Conflict Analysis and Conflict Resolution” edited by Mark Kirton and Cedric Grant (Ian Randle Publishers, Jamaica, 2007).
Why the word “duplicity’ is in the title is hard to explain because Lall didn’t deal at length with the topic. In fact, it is this columnist’s belief that duplicity in Guyana is larger than most countries in the world. Duplicity in the opposition movements, the private media, the churches and civil society is extremely horrible. On the whole anyway, this is a good book to read.
JAGDEO ADDING MORE DANGER TO GUYANA AND THE REGION
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