The domino effect…

…of Granger’s rigging
In one of his “Meditations”, John Donne reminded us: “No man is an Island entire of itself….” Four hundred years later, our own Martin Carter phrased it a bit more urgently, “All are involved; all are consumed”. The point they were making is that our actions have repercussions on those around us – and this is true for individuals or nations writ large. David Granger and the PNC are fond of insisting that we’re a Caribbean people. Their “founder leader” Forbes Burnham was one of the founders of the Caribbean integration movement – now dubbed “CariCom”.
But have they considered the implications and possible impact of their obscene grab for power on the rest of CariCom?? Coming out of slavery and indentureship, one of the reasons for CariCom was to uphold the values that were honed in those days of oppression and brutality.
Freedom and equality were at the top of the list for the simple fact that our bondage and inequalities served to define those values for the rest of mankind – as their antitheses. And, as newly independent nations, one of the goals of CariCom was to ensure that our democratic form of government would be sacrosanct, so that our people would never have to experience despotic rule and live like serfs again.
By and large, the Caribbean has been able to stave of dictatorships (unlike so many of our South American neighbours, we snickered at) with the notable exception of Burnham’s rule between 1968 and 1985. Because of the ideological question, many of the CariCom leaders at that time were able to justify the much nastier domestic reality that Burnham’s iron rule exploited – even as they were embarrassed. But today, nothing can hide the implications of Granger’s replication of Burnham’s grab for power through rigging, nor can they stop the impact.
With our elections dragging on for three months as Granger’s minions engage in all sorts of gymnastics to justify their attack on our democratic institution of elections to choose our leaders, right next door, Bouterse, who’s been convicted for murder, is taking his cue from the PNC to challenge their elections which were conducted a few days ago. It’s a domino effect that will ripple through the entire CariCom if Granger is allowed to get away with his electoral heist.
The US and other western nations have sent the wrong signals by not imposing sanctions on Granger the moment Mingo disobeyed the Court and concocted his second count. CariCom should now call out Granger before their own political systems become subverted.
To paraphrase Donne, “The death of each member’s democracy diminishes ours. Therefore, never ask for whom the bell tolls.
The bell rolls for thee”.

…of the recount deadline
We’ve got just three days for the 25-day recount deadline to expire – with some 956 more ballot boxes to go. The GECOM Chair knew this would happen the moment she allowed the recount to become a de facto audit to please the PNC. She was giving the recount teams basket to fetch water!! If she insists she’d decided to add two recount stations all by herself and she had merely INFORMED the NCTF, why does she have to wait for their permission for additional stations now??
But that’s all now moot, isn’t it?? There’s no way they can get the now required number of stations in the ACCC to get the job done. So, what happens next?? Well, the agreement by Granger and Jagdeo to have a recount was agreed to by Claudette Singh…but there was no prearranged timeframe for that to be completed. She arbitrarily plucked that 25-day deadline from the air.
So, all that she has to do now is to pluck another, more reasonable timeline.

…on national dress for Independence Day
You gotta hand it to Schuman for standing up to the true meaning of Independence. No more being stuck with imitating the erstwhile masters’ sartorial choices.
Let it all hang out!!