Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jun 19, 2020 Editorial
A citizen, apparently acting in the interests of the Coalition, has moved to the Court of Appeal in an attempt to block this country’s scaling a monumental first hurdle in its reaching for democracy and the experience of its ideals. The expected next step and closure of this stormy Elections 2020 has been delayed and derailed again. We look critically at this latest development, and ask: how long more will this charade go on, and to where next?
We are already on record as disagreeing fiercely and frequently with the bewildering stands and approaches tried before by the Coalition. Today, we are compelled to question, disagree, and criticise again at this latest reaching to the judiciary to thwart the will of the people, as recognised by the rest of the world, including those (CARICOM) in whom the Coalition had stated that it had every confidence, but now only to distance from its prior steadfast position of trusted reliance stated before the whole world. What will it take, where is the seriousness-given the gravity of the situation-on the coalition’s part to be realistic and responsible? If there is standing by promises made, then we have nothing, no leadership, no prospects that we will emerge out of this in one piece.
We present all of this today, because today, we recognise that what has been a hard fought electoral battle is still seen as unacceptable by the Coalition, in spite of the consistent and wise verdicts of honourable observers, acting without premeditation or prejudice for the most part. That we are going nowhere, not even with all deliberate speed, since there is no speed at all.
We here at this paper stood ready to extend a hand of patriotic brotherhood to our new government, our new opposition, and our hopefully new and reborn fellow citizens. We have done it! We have made it to this stage, despite our numerous weaknesses and many missteps. But yet again, there is this incomprehensible and unwise step of heading to the court and stonewalling still again, the clear and convincing democratic expression of the will of the people. There is this sheltering under the legal, this ongoing dodging and evading of its obligations by the Coalition leaders to all the citizens of this country. To say that we are disgusted would be more than an understatement, it would be diluting our discomfort and the growing distaste we harbour for what the Coalition is putting this nation through time and again. As it knows fully well, that sharp anger and intensifying distaste is shared by very influential international watchers on the ways of Guyana, and those responsible for this deepening mess.
We can say this with a heavy heart: having contributed in a meaningful degree to the coalition’s return and presence to the governance ranks of this country, we feel betrayed that this is the result of the exposures placed on the table, and the pressures brought to bear for a better and cleaner kind of government, a more dignified and laudable manner of leadership. Well, what is happening today – the backdoor escalations, the last-minute appeals – are a far cry from what is acceptable for 21stcentury governance. We are ashamed of where things are, and we are alarmed at how things look. For now, in this unsettling newest development, we have reached the once unthinkable and must record the unmentionable: from all indications, the Coalition is not prepared to demit office. It will not relinquish the reins of power under any circumstances, while it seeks favourable cover from any judicial tribunal that will give it the pass so desperately hunted for, but which is not forthcoming to bolster its clever manipulations.
The long and hard journey that we thought was almost at an end is now still far from over. It might be nowhere near to being over, now that the Coalition, through its standby boots on the ground, has reached to the courts. Our people need emergency relief, but what was placed before the Court of Appeals, represents the first step in what just could be a series of escalations towards the declaration of some form of national emergency situation of which the president himself hinted at during a press conference last Sunday. This is wrong. It is wrong in principle. It is wrong in the contemplation. It is wrong in the action taken. We detest and disagree and denounce this step seen as necessary by the Coalition. It opens the door wider to transform the existing nightmare that has been our elections disaster into a full-scale societal tragedy.
To President David Granger we say: with each such step taken, the fate of this nation is placed in deeper jeopardy. With each such succeeding action that assumes this disreputable mantle, there is only personal discredit and group dishonour that accrues. We appeal that there be an end to these games frivolous, specious, and potentially disastrous. We trust that some level of sanity will return and at the soonest.
We close with this timely and stark reminder of what the former Barbadian Prime Minister and head of the Commonwealth Observer Mission warned: Guyana can’t withstand the fire of the entire global community. It is why we urge and with only the most nationalistic visions at heart: do not play with that kind of fire, since all of us will get scorched, perhaps irreparably. It is not too late for some commonsense to return and take firm hold.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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