…the winter of despair
With the French Revolution as the backdrop, Charles Dickens began his novel, “A Tale of Two Cities” – referring to Paris and London, of course – with the immortal first line: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…”
Well, with the PNC exhibiting all the signs of repeating the excesses of its Burnhamite iteration to hold on to power by any means necessary – and then some! – many Guyanese have been plunged into a “winter of despair”. There were high hopes after 1992 that the change in Government after free and fair elections had signalled an end to the “worst of times” and “the age of foolishness”.
There was hope that the PNC would’ve learnt that democratic government under the rule of law was the only way forward, after their dictatorial rule had plunged even their supporters into untold misery and suffering in the 28-year age of darkness. But it was not to be. Squeaking into office by the tiniest of margins – a single seat, representing 5000 votes – they immediately demonstrated that their “coalition” was just a Trojan Horse to pick up where the old PNC had left off.
Their Cabinet, Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Departments were so dominated by African-Guyanese that even their own supporters were incredulous. They obviously had learnt the hard way that ruling with one race group was a sure-fire way to compete with Haiti for the “shithole” country prize.
Against this background it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the PNC has been so contemptuous of the Constitution; the latter is just a bother to dictators! The signs were there from the beginning, when Granger insisted that the ruling by the Chief Justice — that not only a former Judge could chair GECOM — was just her “perception”, and he was entitled to his!! He was just channelling his hero Burnham!!
So the latest PNC stunt — to meet as a Cabinet on Tuesday and declare that there’d be no incarceration for possession of small amounts of weed — is just another thumbing of their nose to the CCJ, which has just ruled that the President and Cabinet stands RESIGNED.
Their volte face to then assert that the decision had been made last April when they met in Linden is just ‘mamaguying’.
It doesn’t matter what the CCJ orders, the PNC will bully their way through!!
…the spring of hope
Maybe it’s more than fortuity that the results of the NGSA were announced on the same day as the PNC’s disdainful treatment of the CCJ’s judgement. Your Eyewitness believes it’ll be youths — bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as they are — who’ll usher in a season of light against the encroaching Stygian darkness of the PNC’s anti-democratic rule.
Surely, the PNC will not be able to sell them their zero-sum approach of “if it’s not us, it’ll be THEM!” The youths can see that from next year. There will be enough to go around for all of us to make a decent life. There’s no need for the PNC’s scorched earth tactics to hold on to power. Such an approach tells us clearly that they’re ultimately only concerned with their own survival, and not even with those who’re supporting them because of the fears they’ve whipped up.
They say, “out of the mouths of babes comes wisdom”, and comes the next elections, they’ll demonstrate that wisdom to the PNC!!
Yes…it will be the best of times!!
…rural and urban
It’s more than symbolic that, again, the top two students at this year’s NGSA are from rural areas. For too long, Guyana had seen the urban schools dominate.
Thanks to the PPP for creating “an epoch of belief” in rural schools!!
