BOTH contemplation and procrastination on the post ‘Silly Season’ prevented me from giving my humble two cents opinion, since most of the ‘seasoned’ politicians and their ‘informed’ acolytes and overnight experts on Democracy, Governance and Electoral Practices – every single one from the street dweller to the professor – have already pronounced fervently in whichever direction suits their purpose best.

And in it all, we are being served with either crass ignorance and gross stupidity based on unsubstantiated rumours, speculation, conjecture and personal opinions, or a more polished, enlightened approach which, while purporting to speak to ‘legitimate demands’, appeals to emotions more than intelligence.

Pre-election themes of love and unity morph into thinly veiled race hate. Marches and an infusion of fear among the populace is a post-election fact. Now it has extended to a boycott of business houses, most of which employ supporters of the asinine boycott call.

Our ‘intellectual’ acuity dissipates into vitriolic outpourings of fire and brimstone spewed by fossils of a bygone era whom I dare say most of Guyana have no respect for; those whose dreams have been shattered by their own illusions of grandeur which compel them to seek missed opportunities in the glare of brinksmanship and destruction – bitter, bankrupt and bereft of a new thinking that disallows them to seize emerging opportunities.

Looking back and driving forward, they are bound to crash. These people are  anathema to Guyana and all Guyanese, irrespective of whom they may have befriended in an alliance of convenience so as to achieve their partisan and personal interests.

What is so wrong with us that in every single election (with the exception of 2006) since the PPP/Civic came to power, we have had these problems?

In 1992, Cheddi Jagan barely had time to sit on the presidential chair when the burning, riots, beatings and looting started. Janet was actually ousted after a few years by an open and outright racist and violent campaign.

Bharrat Jagdeo stood up to the nonsense, called a spade a spade and challenged the status quo of some of these so called leaders – bitter, sour old men – whose dreams of glory are still anchored in associations of the past.

The worst thing that can be done to such so called leaders is to sideline them. Their monumental egos cannot withstand the ‘insult’ of being ignored and made irrelevant.

For this they have never and will never forgive Bharrat. They will continue to froth at the mouth and chomp at the bit with bulging eyes keeping in focus the spectre of a Jagdeo whose image will haunt them to the great beyond.   

But for general elections, they would have faded into nothingness, battered by the strength, intelligence and determination of a president more concerned with the deliverables than the polemics.

Living proof of this is our economy. Only those who have eyes to see but do not want to see will say Guyana has not developed under former President Bharrat Jagdeo.

In an international sea of depression, the housing bubble, job losses, wage cuts, etc, Guyana remained an island of economic stability thanks to Bharrat Jagdeo and his Cabinet.

And for those who say, “but we are still second to Haiti.” Just imagine how much worse it was under the PNC with a bankrupt economy, food shortages, Guylines, rabid racism and discrimination, party paramouncy and jobs for the boys with the green card (PNC party membership card). For some this is an inconvenient past that need not be mentioned. For me it was a living reality.

Not all was honky-dory of course. Inherent in Jagdeo’s strength was already his weakness: a failure to distinguish between friend and foe, well intended criticism and the forked tongues of many in the inner circle. The need for a strong hand threw out both the baby and the bath water as he became consumed with getting things done – a bang for the buck – by confronting the inherent sloth of state bureaucracy.

Providence thrust forward a Jagdeo, youthful, strong, intelligent, determined and unfazed by criticism when Guyana needed such qualities most. Guyana grew, developed and thrived. Economic stability however, came with a social price and lop-sided development. Figures can be quoted to ‘prove’ otherwise, but they are never a good indication of the pangs of hunger or the humiliation of poverty or neglect. The electorate’s decision as shown by the results of the 2011 General Elections speaks for itself.    

Enter President Donald Ramotar, firmly grounded in the political arena nationally and internationally with a wide gamut of experience garnered over the years as a representative on the Board of the World Marxist Review, based in Prague, Czechoslavakia, grounding in the trade union movement in Guyana and leader or General Secretary of the PPP.

What do we see here? A personality trait built around a lifetime of service to people, a people’s person suffused with confidence and humility and untouched by the arrogance of power or importance of self. 

What we see here is the humility of power as provided by providence in the form of a tested politician, trade unionist and people’s person in a situation that requires delicate negotiations, compromises and most of all trust. For me it is a coming together of both the objective and subjective conditions conducive to meaningful changes in the social, economic and political fabric of Guyana; putting Guyana first, before partisan party, political, race or narrow self interest.

Such monumental leaps in time and space require a new thinking on the part of all and not only the President or the ‘ruling PPP/C Government’.

The burden of statesmanship resides equally heavily on the shoulders of  APNU and the AFC as other elected representatives of the Guyanese people. If we are not all involved, then we will all be consumed. We cannot be driving forward while looking backwards in the rear view mirror.

Too much is at stake for us to crash or clash! We have to craft unique solutions to a not-so-unique situation within the context of a Guyanese reality. And it calls for thinking outside of the box.

As diplomacy would have had it in bygone eras, it was prudent and wise to negotiate from a position of strength by offering the dove of peace while carefully secreting the scimitar of war within hand reach.

Such an approach is as outdated as calling a war to fight for peace or discussing peace as leaders and having followers marching and sewing the demons of fear and discord among the populace.

Such approaches are vestiges of the ‘Cold War’ era of Mutually Assured Destruction – for those who are not getting it, MAD policies which represent an ossification of thoughts to which we cannot be fixated.

Grievances, whether  perceived, real or staged ought not to be addressed under duress. It calls for unhinging ourselves from carefully manicured and massaged egos – collective or individual – of who we are into what we must become to achieve collective greatness.

It means sometimes stepping into the darkness and facing our fears, to break the mental concepts that have stunted our growth and development as leaders and as a people. President Ramotar seems ready. Will Mr. Granger or ‘Praks’ follow suit in the image of greatness that waits all in a win-win situation for Guyana?  Or will the bitter, sour ole’ fossils leave their miasmic imprints? I keep my fingers crossed.