Whatever opposition, there is to the crawling totalitarianism of the PPP is fragmented and frail

Dear Editor,

I can’t be the only one discerning the inexorable approach of what points to a growing de facto totalitarianism. This is becoming irrefutable, particularly when one considers the actions and ambitions of the PPP mastermind.

Guyana stands at a place never experienced before. Even in the worst times, there were convictions powering spirited objections, strong planks of resistance. In the time of the omnipotent LFS Burnham, there was still a real opposition, vigorous and unyielding, no matter how marginalized and suppressed. And those were the days of America overtly aiding and abetting, while covertly condoning the excesses of the mighty Kabaka. His comfort piled intense distress upon Guyanese, including his supporters.

Many citizens left, but many continued struggling via many means in many places. Those worthy citizens that remained refused to align for selfish good, or surrender and sellout for position or money. I compare those still argued-over worst of times to where we are today, as citizens, groups, and country. What we have today are the first undeniable strains of a creeping totalitarianism washing over more and more areas in this society. There is a hegemonic PPP government unchallenged by an opposition obvious for its piteous state; one that is snake bitten and smitten with palpable paralysis, compromising weaknesses.

I invite honest thoughtful citizens to examine what is present in what sums up Guyana’s pathos. There is no political opposition, no private objectors, no media dissenters, no labor challengers, no civic dissonances, no religious consciences. For the most part, whatever opposition there is to the crawling totalitarianism of the PPP is fragmented and frail, insipid and isolated, lacking in the binding sinews of a coherent dynamic whole. When this society needs a cornerstone opposition, dishonest princes flourish.

Since there is no opposition, PPP masterminds, one in particular, have confidently extended reach in steady advances into uncontested territory. As examples, I offer the Georgetown Mayoralty and its financing (fiddle around with sugar, but flay opponents with salt); the Local Government Commission and the matter involving administering the Regions (dismissing the contemptible opposition now carefully mocked, toyed with); the selection for Deputy Speaker of the people’s house (reduced to an annex of Freedom House); appointments to state boards (no place for opposition representatives, but find place to reward PPP conspirators and elections helpers). I think that National Assembly sub-committees are next in line.

Thus, through the PPP’s ruthless assaults not challenged, oversight of the business and finances of the country are off-limits to those who gained dozens of seats. Questionable men – character, record, perceived – are recalled and positioned to lead through more dirty business than before. The president says the right words every time; it is wiser and slicker, the kinder, gentler PPP. But underlying PPP practices governance are already of dirtier tricks, more self-help; the opposition is invited, present. This is why the occasional stridency of the opposition comes across as the pathetic whining of a beaten and kicked puppy.

Then, there is the State media (all propaganda); the private media (some openly supremacist, some protecting vested interests); one carrying the torch, in fundamentalist fashion (daily disclosures). What was once thunderous during elections stands today as a snowflake in the Tropics. The civic voices, once so proudly loud, are now unlit candles of former selves; civil society is a study in brooding calculations of how best to prosper through the political Frankenstein created. That would be from the totalitarian PPP.

And to take this to yet another level, in time, there could be very few opposition adherents in the nation’s army, or law enforcement. American influence and gifts would convert, and graft and shape to suit its purposes; the primary objective is keeping the PPP in power to do its bidding. This was what was worked for openly and delivered recently; the returns have been instantaneous (a debtor government, Venezuela in the bag, American business coming to dominate). America has seized what it wants; it wants more.

In a blink, Guyana progressed from the specter of possible pariah state to a subservient, shackled one. But still with enough domestic strength and skill to coerce and compel Guyanese to the throes of a totalitarian state, which takes firmer hold daily, compliments of the PPP.

Yours truly,

GHK Lall