THIS is one of the most taxing columns I have written, because like you, my life has also turned topsy-turvy because of the COVID-19 pandemic. I never thought in my lifetime that humanity would be forced to come to grips with the daily gloom and doom of wearing masks regularly, washing hands consistently, social distancing routinely, and so forth, just to hang on to the strings of life. If we factor in the COVID-19 impact on the economy, social relations, politics, and inter alia, we are not only seeing but feeling a war onto ourselves that has no obvious beginning and no secure ending amid escalating numbers of sick and dead to maddening heights across the globe. Welcome to the new norm of life, I suppose.

The announcement of a few reliable vaccines to combat the virus, however, is applause-worthy, considering how desperate we have become to find any respite to the prowling virus. Understandably, this revelation might be of little consolation to those who have suffered in every sense of that word and made worse by the fact that better commonsense policy of protection should have been applied from the outset from those who control the levers of power and from those who embrace the conspiracy theories that the virus is a hallow hoax. As in the U.S., leaders in Guyana, albeit at a less harsh level, have also been criticised, taken to task for not stepping up to the challenge of doing enough to contain the spread of the virus. The real test of our leaders though is yet to come, and that is, when and how the vaccine will be distributed among the populace, a situation that does not necessarily require guidelines from the World Health Organisation or doctors in the developing world. Put differently, what is the distribution strategy for the vaccine? And finally, we are beset by questions as to what will be the side effects of the vaccine, which will not be seen in 2020, meaning that the residues and ramifications of the pandemic will be carried over to 2021 and beyond. We are trapped in a state of oblivion as to when we will be marching out of the woods without looking back. In the meantime, we must not, however, forget to thank the persistence of researchers at Germany’s BioNTech and its U.S. partner Pfizer, U.S. pharmaceutical giant Moderna, to list a few, and the unwavering support of all and sundry to bring some finality to our new, bewildered world order.

We in Guyana have witnessed our own homegrown political pandemic of sorts in 2020, notably, the failed attempts by the former APNU+AFC Coalition administration and its planted sidekicks in GECOM to steal the general and regional elections in front of millions watching in shock. What is unsettling about this failed attempt was that it lasted for five months, and at one stage many were convinced that the regime would be successful. The regime had mastered the art of changing the narrative to ensure its survival in ways lacking shame and self-pruning, while its
source of strength was cultivated and abetted by overblown rhetoric from its die-hard
supporters, including so-called lawyers, university professors, and activists.

We know that in the belly of the beast there was also a confrère of silent supporters (about 65) who preferred to watch and wait with hand-wringing anxiety. Since August 2, these individuals have crawled out of their cocoons, and ironically, have been speaking and writing about justice in the letter columns of the dailies. They are not shy about listing their names and revealing their infelicities of hypocrisy. Sadly, there is no reliable cure for this mindset and meme. We should not be bogged down by these unsavoury and despicable elements, however. We must instead thank the international diplomats, observers, missions as well as Guyanese from all walks of life to detox, defy and defeat the convoluted minds of the rogue riggers to ensure that the will of democracy prevails over vulpine leadership.

Not everything was bad in 2020 for Guyana. Revenues from oil have poured in, and Guyana’s economy when compared with other tourism-dependent Caribbean islands, experienced growth in double digits. The economy of some Caribbean islands such as Jamaica has contracted by 18 per cent. It is refreshing then to read, hear, and see the explosion of investment in Guyana, for example, in the hotel industry, signalling the opposite of what Ernest Lawrence Thayer said in his poem Casey at the Bat, “there is no joy in Mudville.” Seems as though the government has sprung into action to prove that it will not be business as usual and you better jump on that train or you will be left behind.

I depart by saying that 2020 was a wash. We were badly bruised, battered, and perhaps bankrupted by force majeure. Despite these headwinds, I think the pandemic has transformed us inadvertently in beneficial ways to meet unexpected challenges of the future. Tell me, what other events could possibly get under your skin and test your determination to merely live than the COVID-19 pandemic, and to put an unpopular government in Guyana in the opposition in 2020? You have stepped up to the challenge admirably, but do not be complacent. (lomarsh.roopnarine@jsums.edu).