Sadly, the Opposition’s finding out that the old adage of “out of sight; out of mind” can be fatal when you’re in the business of politics – especially democratic politics. After all, in this arena – and it IS an arena – the goal is to woo the widest number of people. But if the LoO is so outta sight that he doesn’t even exist, how can citizens even think of following the opposition? They’d just be joining a mob milling around in confusion, or worse yet – as one former Opposition member said – fluttering around like headless yard fowls! Who wants that?
So every day we see another example of the Opposition’s confusion. There was talk of the opposition demonstrating in front of the ongoing O&G conference – which woulda given them wide coverage. But it’s never gonna happen. Why? For the same reason there was no coherence in the Opposition’s response to the PPP’s Budget in Parliament. It was every man (and woman) for him/herself – and the devil take the hindmost!! As he did when Nicolette Henry offered her “now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t” resignation!!!
In politics, folks are always trying to “catch a t’ing” for themselves. And in the “Case of the Absent LoO” Granger did his by serving revenge cold – which is how it’s best served!! The man knows his social graces!! But in this period of uncertainty others are also trying to “catch a t’ing”. For instance, take Ramjattan, the erstwhile leader of the AFC – and though some would mutter “PLEASE take him”!!! – your Eyewitness hoped you heard him trying to make hay on the PNC’s conundrum.
PNC leader Aubrey Norton had announced they wouldn’t be nominating no representative to the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) Board. It’s “illegal they screamed – since it was just the PPP’s majority who’d voted for it in the National Assembly!! Never mind they’d passed THEIR NRF after being voted out on a No Confidence Motion and the PPP weren’t even in Parliament!! So up comes Ramjattan – who’d been Granger’s doormat for 5 years and still hadn’t been favored as the (token) PM candidate – and says HIS AFC’s prepared to participate in selecting the Parliamentary Rep for the NRF Board!! Ouch!!
Now the PPP’s in a dilemma. They and everybody’s idiot uncle know that Ramjattan just wants his dead-as-a-doornail and stink-and-dutty to boot AFC to have some relevance again. But it’s not really in the PPP’s hands. Once the matter goes to the Parliament Appointments Committee – the AFC can vote as they want. The PPP then gets to tell the world that the appointment was “non-partisan”!!
The AFC’s going nowhere, in any case!!
…Black Friday
Well, today’s the 60th anniversary of Black Friday, Feb 16, 1962 – when most of the Business District of downtown Georgetown was burnt to the ground by PNC and UF activists. We now know from several declassified files that the Kaldor Budget was the occasion for the arson – not the cause! Any excuse could’ve served since, like a Greek Tragedy, the script had already been written. The protagonist Jagan’s fate had already been sealed – the tragedy was he just never figured it out!!
The cause, of course, was that tiny, innocuous us, had appeared as a blip on the the West’s radar at a most inopportune time: Castro had just tweaked their tail at the Bay of Pigs. Cheddi then committed a terminal ideological faux pas! Well, once again, we’ve hit the West’s radar! This time it’s their economic interest involved – in the shape of 13 billion barrels of oil. You’d hope that Guyanese have learnt their lesson and wouldn’t display the hubris of putting “the west on trial!!
We’re still a pipsqueak!!
…for libel
The US courts have just reaffirmed that to libel a public figure, ACTUAL MALICE must be proven. The press must’ve known the allegation was false and still published.
Unfortunately, our law gives public figures a sword rather than a shield.
