Carry on plundering
Guyanese citizens may be limited, but their imaginations are not. They see, they hear, they learn. They connect dots, just like everybody else in this talkative, inquisitive, secretive (believed) society. That is, everybody other than the bland, passive, nonintrusive Integrity Commission. Its role is best described as curator of relics brought to its museum. I am beginning to think that it is a wax museum: not for the real alabaster things, but as a receptacle for paper (mis)representations of what is believed acceptable, what reads well, and what should prompt no one to hold nose or raise an eyebrow. As I evaluate matters, the Integrity Commission is already on its way to nowhere; my once high hopes are dashed. It will be tendered the sanitized and the cosmeticized. By this yardstick, the Integrity Commission will have filled its mandate to keep the country clean (not just the sinful city). I wonder what the poor struggling citizens think of all of this. I know what I do.
Second, and as if to provide confirmation of swirling misgivings, I learned that the same
Integrity Commission announced that it has no plans to go after retroactive declarations that may be outstanding. Pardon is asked if I failed to get that completely accurate. But, it is clear that, after all the financial plunder inflicted and ethical perversities experienced, this country is in a forgiving phase. I call this amnesty national. Amnesty Guyana affords the gloss of old (rancid) bodies cloaked in new Armani suits. This is caricature and spectre; joke and trepidation amounting to the ole free pass to perpetuate debauchery and pillage; to grandfather thievery. Therein reside the farces of integrity, amnesty, and continuity. Other than a spoilsport like me, who would not like such an assurance of no looking back? Look closely: GRA amnesty. City Hall amnesty. Presidential amnesty. Segments of the judiciary and law enforcement have their own longstanding amnesty programmes (for a consideration, of course). Only the opposition has been tardy in unveiling its own version of this folly. It is as if a neon “For Sale” sign has been erected: come in and get your free indulgence and any other special dispensations needed. There is hope in some Guyanese quarters that the Americans will be similarly understanding and lenient.
Whether there is resignation with or scorn for official mercy, the last word has to be that men (and women) who were immersed in every conceivable form of malfeasance involving the people’s money in the last 20 years (or 60) are given a clean bill of health, and the rightof-way of an official stamp of approval to live and let live. Put differently: carry on plundering. What a country! What a lovely sickly comedy! A wicked part of me sometimes wish that I were a beneficiary of such easy magnanimity. Pope Francis created saints out of sinners the other day. Guyana does him one better by creating divinity out of deviltry; it is good to hear that obeah is about to be legalized. Now everything falls into place: there is neither darkness nor evil in this land. To maintain equity, I suggest that slimy confidence tricksters and dirty businesspeople be granted lifetime immunity, too. The opposition did this; so should this government.
Third, and so that no one gets any fancy ideas, I am disclosing for the public record even though I do not qualify by any definition for the distinction (such that it is) of senior public officer. I have nothing to declare. That is the extent and value of my assets. No new holdings or strange suspicious ones. No extra cash. No shelters (here or anywhere). To others, righteously indignant or not, I remind: it is not the thing itself, but the mere appearance of it. In fact, I weigh less (financially) today, than when I responded to a government invitation recently. I am poorer, not richer; fewer friends and more foes, too. The GRA, the GPF, the government, the opposition, the forensic auditors, the media can check and verify what is stated here. Like the Swiss banks (unlike Guyanese institutions) I am in full disclosure mode. I invite, even challenge all comers to probe. Now having volunteered this unprecedented step, here is the billion-dollar question: who else in this godforsaken dirty (the man is right) society can say and then do (do) the same? Very few, I believe. Yours faithfully, GHK Lall