Surujbally was solid, unflappable

Dear Editor, As the sun speeds toward the setting of the Steve Surujbally era at the helm of Gecom, I think it is timely to look at his contributions, and honour the man.

His was the most sensitive, controversial, damning job in this nation. Like an airline pilot at cruising altitude, there can be long intervals floating on the boredom of routine, and then there can be those moments that seem like a lifetime of spiralling crises and impending catastrophe.

I listened to him during the May 2015 election from right here in the hood; the earlier ones of his tenure were followed from afar. There were striking parallels in all of those unyielding contests: claim and counterclaim; early conflicting declarations of victory; competing cries of fraud; rising hostility from all corners and palpable tensions everywhere.

Throughout all of the political histrionics and verbal exhibitionisms, Dr Steve Surujbally, Chairman of Gecom, manifested his own singular parallelisms. He was solid, as charted navigation plans were shredded; as he managed the unknown; Dr Surujbally was unflappable, unswerving, and un-intimidated. The man held his ground repeatedly amidst the rising uproar from the street and the political elevations, as well as during the lower decibel political noises.

He stood firm and unruffled while overseeing the tools and resources of his Gecom trade. It is a trade distinguished by the antiquity of the arcane, and which encompasses a bottomless reservoir of trouble and the disputatious. At its sickly heart is a counting tradition and system that would reduce the gods to tears; and, time and again, has shaken the heavens over Guyana when the ambitions and calculations of political mortals defy logic, constitution, and reality.

Like Horatio, he stood alone at the bridge during many a storm tossed day and endless menacing night, while a suspended Guyanese nation kept vigil. The calibre of the man emerged during those raucous fractious times when men from inside his domain alleged treachery, only to reverse postures later. They did that then; they did so just now. This is the real Guyana; this is about the Götterdämmerung of national elections. There are no allies, no Olympic spirit, and never any willing concession; only the ugliness of society asphyxiating on the venoms that it keeps manufacturing so effortlessly.

In the last election mud wrestle (sewage wrestle might be more applicable) the placards vilified him. Such is the nature and history of elections in Guyana: the hard hatreds, the rooted bitterness, and the vulgar reflexive barbarities intended to savage and humiliate. Through it all, the Gecom chairman stood tall and firm; in fact, he seemed to grow taller before the eyes of the discerning.

So, whether from the manoeuvering inside, or the raging outside, or the demanding uncompromising elevations, Dr Steve Surujbally stood his ground, held his own, and did not flinch. The man was always ready to stare down any leader and tell him where to shove matters. Further, he had the sinew and the texture of character to look those same political captains (or their privates) and utter a two word imperative sentence.

When all of this is considered (and with so much left out), I submit that this citizen served the republic well, very well. As is to be expected in a torn and broken land, one part of it admires him, while the other despises him.

For my part, I salute the soonto-be-gone chairman. Well done, Steve. It was truly outstanding work in the most difficult and thankless of circumstances. Retirement should be enjoyed, even if it means literally going to the dogs. On its own behalf, the nation had already gone there, but in a different way. The dogs are appalled. Yours faithfully, GHK Lall