After a Year
Our national poet, Martin Carter, begins his poem, “After One Year” with the following three lines.
“After today how will I talk to you?
That misery I know you nurture
owned by me as well as yours … ”
Kaieteur News – The poem was written and published in 1964, a year after the massive socio-political unrest and was Carter’s reflection on how the divisions of society would be healed by the fact that only a year before the situation existed where “Everywhere wrong doings are done.” What Carter was concerned about was, in light of the atrocities, in light of the feelings of mutual hurt experienced by ordinary people, how a conversation with those who nurtured mutual distress would begin and going forward.
Today marks effectively the first year since this country, and the rest of the world, had the first clear indication that David Granger, at the helm of his incumbent political machinery, had colluded with elements of GECOM, not their restrict to District Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, to obstruct the will of the people in the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections. What would follow, Carter quoted, was “carnival of misery”, misinformation, gas lighting, total madness and unobstructed cowardice coming out of the executive office to an unpublished degree in this country.
For most Guyanese, March 5 last year and the five months that followed, up to August 2, were unclear, boring, withheld, and boring of outright lies emerge from those in a senior position seeking to distract from their engagement and support for electoral fraud.
It was on March 5 that Mingo – after two days of blocking and trying to block the process – made his first fraudulent statement, one signed by the Granger coalition, to the shock and disappointment of everyone else in the room at the time.
The embarrassment was not only national – all international election observer missions vehemently opposed the travesty that occurred that day. The late Owen Arthur, former Prime Minister of Barbados and Head of the Commonwealth Observer Group, wrote in response to this first action in the attempt to:
“Members of the Commonwealth Observer Group (COG) have been attending the Returning Officer’s Office, Region 4 in Georgetown for the past 24 hours. This morning and this afternoon, 5 March 2020, I personally visited that office. The Group’s clear view is that the final election results tables have not yet been finalized and validated in accordance with established procedures and relevant legal and statutory provisions. We strongly encourage the Guyana Elections Commission and all parties involved to ensure that the process follows the legal steps prescribed by Guyana laws properly and in accordance with the country’s international obligations. ”
Complementing this simple and shameless collusion with GECOM was a macabre side show theater that was broadcast on the same day. On that day the then Foreign Minister, Dr. Karen Cummings, expulsion of observers, including Arthur, for dare to highlight Mingo’s apparent attempt to manipulate Region Four votes in favor of Granger. It was also on March 5 that the then Telecommunications Minister, now APNU + AFC Member of Parliament, Cathy Hughes, posted on her Facebook page that the Guyana government had, about a week earlier, discovered the presence of three Russians who were in the country to fragment the elections, two of them detained and ‘deported’, with the other going missing. It did not matter, even to this day, that no real evidence of the Russians was presented – Hughes and the rest of the coalition leadership would double this insane farce even as Granger’s machinery continued to compromise itself to delay and corrupt the election results.
What finally brought dementia to a close was Mr Granger’s attempt, which began on March 5 last year, to continue running the country despite being voted out of his office obviously, the threat and application of sanctions by our Western allies more powerful, including bipolar. condemnation and visa revocations of the exact country that the Coalition spent millions of dollars to convince of its efforts, including pathetically introducing the Granger administration as a foil for China’s influence in the region.
Of course, after a year, the missing equation in all of this is the man who insisted and confirmed throughout the indecent coup that he was at the helm of the political machinery participating in that coup. As his machines – albeit convincingly – insist, the March 2 elections were stolen from Mr Granger by an international conspiracy, the man himself remains in hiding, even though he is the leader of the largest opposition and head of a list the parliamentary opposition, minus one.
The former President does not have the honesty, integrity or decency to appear in front of the public to either admit to the political machine fraud campaign that took place from March 5 onwards, or to convey his wrong foundation that he even bemoaning at this point. After a year, the dishonesty continues, the absurd theatricality continues, and David Granger’s demented cognitive dissonance remains unabated.
After a year, this country needs an honest conversation that will lead to a strained political and social divide. Last year’s chief conspiracy architect pulled his voice out of the conversation, whether out of basic shame or cowardice – those who echo his royal madness need to stop, or they can’t be in any conversation in this country, at least including them. on the way forward.