THE environment conjured by the Charrandas Persaud spectacle that points to a bribery to bring down a government for the sole purpose of the acquisition of power and to enforce the machinations of a criminalised state, raises questions about the principles and functionality of our laws and its relationship to maintaining a defiance to the manipulation of its tenets by a confederacy best described Biblically as ‘Principles and Principalities of wickedness in high places’.

This reference is relevant because the majority of Guyanese were tutored in the understanding of the Hebrew texts that constitute the Bible and the basis of Christianity, which have influenced and enveloped the secular Laws of our hemisphere, and are rooted in the tribal Laws of old (from the Nile onwards)- Africa and iron age Europe that adopted in principle and philosophies, religious and secular tenets.

How bribery is viewed in the subconsciousness of most Guyanese is directly related to ancient teachings. I can remember my father in conversation while I was invisible, sanding a piece of wood cut for a wardrobe. Uncle Moshe related “duh’s wuh he do Braff he bribe the man.” My father replied, “Wuh? I ent know that he would’ve sink that low.” I absorbed that principle and confronted it continuously being tested in the same vein, and became aware that all the people I knew that subscribed to bribery were people who were accused before the court trying to bribe witnesses, settle their own transgressions, or others using a clerk to file an illegal document to steal some else’s property etc; and a category of politicians who buy votes, popular for a consistent absence of ideas and lack of holistic patriotism.

I can recall the early stages of the relationship with the mother of my eldest, I had bought her a perfume set for her birthday. The next morning I was home, having done a round-the–clock-shift when a knock on the door revealed the presence of her father with the gift in his hand, her mother and the young lady. I invited them in and he proceeded to tell me that I was wrong to bribe his daughter with a gift and not approach the home; how it was unethical and after two hours of scolding, the relationship proceeded on a different note.

The Hebrew text/ Bible explains and repeats and pronounces on numerous occasions on the term Bribe in context with God’s condemnation. In Exodus; Chap. 23, 8, “And thou shall take no gift: for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous” 1 Kings; Chap. 15, 18-19, “There is a league between me and thee, between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent unto thee a present of silver and gold; come and break my league with Ba’ ash-a King of Israel that he may depart from me.” And so with Nehemiah; Chap. 6, 12-13, “And lo, I perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin and that they may have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me.” Entrapment through bribery related in the scriptures is condemned as sinful. Matthew; 28- 11-12-13- “Now that they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and showed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. And when they were assembled with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept. And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him, and secure you.” With the book of Isaiah; 33, 15-16 “ He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of Bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high”.

We are all aware of Delilah and Judas. Today we witness America placing before the courts persons who have broken their laws by bribing ivy league and top centres of education to facilitate their children with bogus certificates, while we in Guyana have the presidential candidate of the PPP who has forged his qualifications and could not even copy the grades of tertiary education right- a complete fraud yet there seem to be no laws that prohibit such a loathsome act. The quality of a man or woman is not determined by certificates, but to possess a fraudulent mindset is disgusting. Where are the laws? What laws watchdog the integrity of the Nation from the Principles and principalities of wickedness that wish to ascend to high places?

The duel in Guyana is not about legitimate national contentions or race at the grass root level, it is about determinations of greed and self-interest; about power as a shield of protection for those who are guilty of past crimes; about the folly of the guard detail, to let the bribe pass, but it must be wrestled with, despite the Pharisees and their hecklers in the media. To quote the attorney Preetam Radhakrishna on Charrandass Persaud “ The motivation clearly was not conscience, as he could have resigned in protest from his party…” History teaches us that when lawlessness is allowed, it expands. Hitler used the Turkish genocide of five million Armenians in 1915, and no response from the world as a justification for his mass genocide of millions of various peoples. If this passes then what next?