H@rd Truths by GHK Lall – Finding favour with Jagdeo

Oct 04, 2023 Features / Columnists, News, The GHK Lall Column

Kaieteur News – I am going to be a changed man, and it is a promise that I intend to keep.  The plan is to tell my brother, Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo what he wants to hear, what thrills him endlessly.  For to get on the right side of him is to pave the way to one’s own prosperity. Further, even greater insights are obtained on how this country works, how its institutions fall in line, and how situations are massaged and molded for premediated outcomes.

GHK Lall

All Guyanese owe a word of thanks to the Vice President for providing proofs about the transparency with which this PPP Government goes about its business.  I applaud the National Procurement and Tender Board Administration (NPTAB) for doing the right thing: it is the essence of survival and continuity. The time has come for me to form a company, and submit bids, if only to test the system.  I should get to know some of the players better, discern what makes them tick, appreciate what influences them to think along certain lines.

To be clear, there are already solid ideas about how tender boards operate in this city and country. But I am a firm believer that a little more knowledge is always more helpful, makes for a more well-equipped citizen.  So, there will be a clearer understanding of NPTAB: the mysteries of its deliberations, the human strands that direct its manoeuvres, and the wisdoms that lead it in certain peculiar directions, with results that speak for themselves.

Like I said: do right by Jagdeo and the gold medal is as good as guaranteed. This is where NPTAB comes in, and is at its best.  Just say the word [through channels, naturally] and consider whatever it is that has to be done, as done.  Frankly, it is the most seamless way of doing business.  All things considered, including the political, this is interpreting what free market operations and arrangements are all about in the most liberal manner that can be imagined.  There is gratitude for the transparency about who gets what.  But there is this confession that must be made publicly: there is difficulty in understanding how some things could actually be.

It is why I said at the beginning that I have come to see the light: speak right before Brother Barry, and all will be well.  No hiccups. No hang-ups.  No holdups.  Tell the master magician waving his wand, so that those who know what they have to do spring into action.  Clearly, NPTAB is in tune with the times, is very familiar with how the wind blows, and what the temperature should be inside its air-conditioned confines.  Try warm for a start, as in receptive, then fully responsive.  The more mischievous part in me wonders how the people in NPTAB would react if they have to deal with a pile of bid documents that has GHK Lall & Partners stamped across the front page. But being the wise man that I supposedly am, there shouldn’t be any misunderstandings or misgivings, which is why the step of ‘AND PARTNERS’ was taken. Who partners are is the key to who is going to be the arranger, who is capable of manipulating those minds that have possibly long lost any ability to think for self, and operate independently.

This is how NPTAB and transparency are linked, what is now beyond denial, lack any doubt.  This is how obvious the nature of its handiwork has become to those who pay attention to these things, and with the least jaundiced eye.  To make my brother, Vice President Jagdeo, even more pleased with me, I go the whole nine yards: there is not only transparency, but also accountability in the output of NPTAB, the sweetness of its awards.  There is this one little point that nags, though, which wouldn’t go away: accountability to what and whom?  Accountability to rules and processes as neatly laid out on paper would be an inspiring beginning.  It is accountability to whom, and their wishes and whims, is where the trouble lies, and stuff starts hitting the fan.

Just to ensure that nobody is mistaken about the new me. There are those who are proud to play the parrot; please leave me out of that gang. There are many in this political swamp, who are paid to play the puppet; ensure that I am excluded.  And then, there are those who don’t care whatever low, dirty job they have to do, don’t care about how stupid they look, don’t care that what a nation see is that they are ever ready, to be willing pawns to be pushed around, played games with, and kicked about.  I need a favour from my fellow Guyanese: whatever is thought of, or done, don’t ever put this simple, humble, peasant in any of those categories.  Those have their own people, and don’t include me. Give them the fat contracts and cushy jobs; the other bottom feeders who do dirty PPP work must be drooling in anticipation over what could be lined up for them.  Peace and goodwill in October to all those who participate in these circuses, ranging from ranking political figures to the wonderful folks at NPTAB. And, of course, the beneficiaries.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)

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