…a threesome involving lust for money, oil and power

Dear editor,

I AM so proud of my childhood that you would be forgiven in believing that I was brought up in an affluent society. The fact is, my formative years were an impoverished daily battle. Having said that, I’m very proud of where I came from and will forever talk and write about it. The knowledge I have gained from that developmental period has played and continue to play, a critical role in my adulthood. Two of the concepts I have learnt that guide my actions to this day are, one should never make threats if one is not prepared to carry through with them. Secondly, not all threats would be carried through, but it is difficult to determine which one is going to, hence all threats should be taken seriously.

Today will make four weeks since the general elections. Even before Election Day, the PPP was complaining more than the woman alluded to in the Bible. The Bible made reference to the fact that it is better to live on the roof of a house than to be in a house with a nagging woman. That aptly describes the PPP before and after the election. But that is not all to the PPP, there is much more. The PPP formed an unhealthy $34M relationship with Mercury LLC that served as the link between PPP and the American politicians. This Mercury relationship resulted in unusual behaviours by some American politicians, as it pertained to Guyana. Inexplicably, American politicians would, always with fail, echo the PPP’s political position, albeit they are thousands of miles away.

For example, the PPP demanded that the Region Four results must to be verified and the American politicians demanded that Region Four results must be verified before they are deemed credible. The well-learned chief justice subsequently said results verification is nonsense. PPP then silently whispered oops and the American politicians also silently whispered oops. And it got more disconcerting when the PPP posited that GECOM should use statements of poll rather than spreadsheets for tabulation of the Region Four results.

The American politicians instantly mirrored the PPP’s argument and instructed GECOM that only statements of polls and NOT spreadsheets should be used for tabulation of Region Four results, for it to be deemed credible. By now most Guyanese were wondering why these American politicians are not relocating to Guyana to become the official opposition party. Anyway, the PPP maintained the quarrelsome woman mentality and cried that the Region Four results are not credible since they have no confidence in GECOM’s statements of poll. OK PPP, but you demanded that they be used. Unsurprisingly, like the PPP locally daddy the PSC, The American politicians proclaimed that the results are not credible even though the preferred statement of polls were used. By now a very tolerant President Granger had enough of this synchronised dancing between the PPP and the American politicians; hence, he used his political clout to arrange for a CARICOM high-level team to recount all the votes. Surprise, surprise, PPP were elated and made it publicly known. Let’s see what the American politicians had to say. They argued that the results are only credible if CARICOM supervises a recount. Anyway, I wrote a missive to the editor titled, “Tweets and facebook postings are not official routes for diplomatic communications” on the 25th March. In essence, I asserted that if the Americans have concerns about our general election, then the Secretary of State would summon our Ambassador Mr Riyad Insanally to explain as he expresses his administration’s concerns. Within 24 hours of that letter, the Acting Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Department Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, summoned Ambassador Insanally to explain while he raised his administration’s concerns. These clearly can’t all be coincidental.

It is clear than there is a communication link between the PPP and the American politicians, since the American politicians’ statements are always consistent with the PPP’s narrative, verbatim. The fact is that America and the entire world are battling the Coronavirus pandemic. Also, the fact is that America has registered the highest cases so far. It is without doubt that many of these American politicians are up for re-election in seven months. They are too well aware that they will be judged on their managing or lack thereof, of the coronavirus in America. This is undoubtedly a battle for their political lives. The fact is that they don’t know about Guyana. The fact is that they have never heard of Guyana. The fact is that they are too busy with domestic matters to make the time to research and read the news on a nation with a population of less than one million. Therefore, I would humbly submit that someone is doing the work for them. That someone would be employed by a lobbyist group. That lobbyist group is Mercury LLC. I would opine that these statements and diplomatic summons are orchestrated by Mercury LLC. Don’t tell me that the Americans politicians would have educated themselves on our electoral vernacular vote tabulation processes eg, verification, spreadsheet and the fact that our voting is not digital. They don’t know and they could not care less. As I have stated earlier, all threats should be taken seriously since we never know which one is going to be carried through. The Guyana Government is clearly taking that approach as it pertains to the threat of sanctions.

Finally Mr Editor, there must be a brilliant neologist in the PPP. First, the new word battylion was coined. Then recently the phrase, “Caretaker President.” Now we have “Government in waiting.” I do recognise this phrase “President in waiting,” but “Government in waiting” is new to all of us. My understanding is that once the President in waiting is inaugurated, he then selects his cabinet which forms the government. Also, I could not help but notice that our well-learned neologist missed an opportunity to add a new word to the dictionary. You see, from 2011- 2015, Donald Ramotar led a minority government, but strangely the PPP neologist did not consider him a minority President. Therefore, to add clarity to this new concept of “Government in waiting,” I thought I should put a few questions to the PPP’s political scholar.
1. How long they anticipate the “Government in waiting” will be in this transition state before they are they are deemed the real deal?
2. Is there a waiting list of “Government in waiting” and what position on that list is PPP?
3. So far, APNU+AFC are ahead of the PPP on the GECOM “Government in waiting” list, based on official results. How do they plan to manage expectations when considering that they will be on that list for quite a few decades?

Regards

Dr Mark Devonish