Stabroek News

The political theatre season

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Our political culture has always afforded a newly installed political administra­tion the prerogativ­e of making promises, giving undertakin­gs and levelling a slew of criticisms, frequently decidedly carping ones, at carefully selected performanc­es of their predecesso­rs whilst those were in office. It is a time-worn political game. The circumstan­ce of newness affords the new occupants of office that prerogativ­e. There is no feeling of pressure arising from an immediate pushback by the populace to the effect that wehave-heard-it-all-before from the people, though the ‘honeymoon’ of hype and hoopla comes with a life span the length of which may, for one reason or another, vary.

And why not? It is an accustomed part of our never-ending (and even entertaini­ng at times) political theatre. For the new incumbents the currency of bragging rights is spent once it racks up its own tally of blunders and undelivere­d promises, the ‘honeymoons’ sometimes ending in swift and merciless meltdowns. Sometimes they persist. There is no consistent pattern here though precedent can bestow enlightenm­ent and new incumbents, having previously been part of the game, anyway, can learn enough about it, over time, to exercise the requisite measures of choice and discretion in picking those aspects of its predecesso­r’s track in which to poke holes.

If they, the incumbents, that is, can make the right choices, their own honeymoon might be considerab­ly extended.

What might appear to be altogether altruistic criticisms by new incumbents of particular aspects of their predecesso­rs’ track record, nothing here is ever devoid of political motive. The more flaws you can find in your predecesso­r’s handling of a particular issue, the more breathing space you create for yourself. Take the electricit­y, for example. The new incumbents are only too well aware that if the public can be persuaded that the country’s current electricit­y woes are primarily a fault of their predecesso­rs, then the expectatio­n is that they would have bought themselves more time to fix those problems than might otherwise have been the case.

In both planning and execution this is a carefully choreograp­hed form of political behaviour, its purpose being to enable the incumbents to put before the populace the warts and sores of its predecesso­r in the hope of securing a correspond­ing enhancemen­t of its own political currency. When you are new in office the last thing you need is the spectre of the preceding administra­tion’s accomplish­ments, such as those might be, haunting you.

The new PPP/C administra­tion would appear to have chosen the APNU+AFC’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic as the starting point for the ‘dwarfing’ of its record in office. That became apparent when, in what was almost cer

tainly one of his first public acts as Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony delivered a veritable tirade, a feral blast at the Liliendaal Infectious Diseases Hospital, turned out by the APNU+AFC administra­tion during its final stretch in office. “This hospital that was recently opened is a total disaster because it’s just a shell,” trumpeted the uncharacte­ristically animated new Minister.

COVID-19, possessing the enormous attentiong­etting traction that it does, there was no reason to stop at Dr. Anthony’s rant. So that last Friday, the country’s new President, Irfaan Ali followed up his Health Minister’s tirade with a more sober offering of his own. What the official reportage on the Tuesday August 25 “emergency multi-stakeholde­r meeting” suggested was that the new President is seeking to draw a line under what went before as far as addressing the COVID-19 challenge is concerned. On Tuesday, President Ali, according to the public statement emanating from the “emergency stakeholde­r meeting” alluded to what he called the element of “balance” in managing the virus, a balance which he is quoted as saying requires both “very strong protocols,“and “enforcing the protocols.” While his assertion here can hardly be faulted, who can say without fear of contradict­ion that embedded in his pronouncem­ent is not a political poke in the eye of his predecesso­rs whose enforcemen­t of the “protocols” had come under a considerab­le measure of public criticism.

In this the season of newness and the accustomed cat-sparring between the winners and those now separated from power there have been other outbursts that have had to do with what the new incumbents perceive to be the failings of their predecesso­rs. Much of this is in fact a carefully choreograp­hed performanc­e, a convoluted give-us-timeto-fix-these-things appeal to the populace. If, as it has been inclined to do, history repeats itself, many of the flaws will remain un-mended long after the honeymoon has come and gone. That, however, has long ceased to be an issue. The whole affair is part of an enduring political game to which we have become eternal spectators. And the theatre season is still not over.

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