OP:ED PPPGovernment–midtermleadershipreport

By GHK Lall

I have been weighing this, but didn't want to risk losing friends in high places. It is time for the PPP Government's midterm leadershipreport. An examination of the record of the last two and a half years confirms that the situation is normal (snafu). President Ali is a canvas of contradictions; the Vice President is now a better dancer than Fred Astaire. Focusing on his words and postures, the President is an Olympic skater, who would do well in both Summer and Winter games: he cannot walk his talk: a straight line. He is gamesman and showman. As for the Vice President, when pressed for clarity on projects and contracts, he becomes a ballerina: pirouetting, rolling around, floating about (and he doesn't have a speech impediment). How can Guyanese not love these leaders? People starving and crying, they laughing, gyrating, having fun from de poorpeepleting.

Meanwhile, the entire PPP machinery is more exuberantly corrupt than before. Electionspoils. Itis freedom to steal without fear, which is what free and fear compresses into. Many ministers and bureaucrats now waddle around in terribly overweight condition. It is not body fat, but the fat of the land, viz., the people's purse Infrastructure billions.

Theirtonguesaregreenfrom US greenbacks, their lips dripping with downstream oil richness Buildings goingup,realestateholdings expanding, and on and on. More infrastructure. Their handsarequickerthanBruce Lee in 'Return of the Dragon.' It is the return of the PPP, biggah and baddah than before, and it is a dragon. Remember Mr Su, frompointseast. Something tells me that he is more CIA than China Something whispers that the Yankees are unhappy Dirty people andcorruption.

For a clearer picture on PPP-style government and leadership, it is best to zero on the lead vocalists, arranger and conductor. He is Laxmikant and Pyarelal, with Zubin Mehta, and Balsara thrown in for good measure. Talkaboutsinging sitars! IstartwithElJefe.

Former Minister of Housing Ali, now His Excellency, President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali has become a glorious extension of his old ministerial self. Heismoreaggressive.

I can appreciate the President for thinking along the soaring lines the boxer Mohamed Ali who once said: “I'm so great that I impress even myself ” Amen, I say Somberly, the President claims he is of transparency, accountability, and unity He left out skater On the first two, he should have the courage to go on “60 Minutes” and explain why foreign dignitaries do not want to share his hospitality or the company of his people.Itenderthe U S plenipotentiary, who has a nose for dirt. Regardingthe third leg in his w o b b l y p r e s i d e n t i a l centipede, unity, I regret to inform my President that a bag of moneytoasetofhandpicked community people of dubious reputation is not oneness. Or brukkin up a PNC office. Or bulldozing homes.

As for the Hon Vice President, it is said take the measure of the man, and there is the man. The challenge is that the VP doesn't stay still, but flits around, skips around, and trips about: a combinationof the Drifters (all over the place), the Skyliners (yeah, all the way up there), and Death Row records (all the way to the chair). No wonder the man has to space out his public presence and pick his words with chopsticks.

I had warned everybody: start out on the wrong foot, and chronic foot in mouth results. Look at the mighty VP: the man has to hedge as if walking on a ledge and in mortalfearofbreakingsome pledge. He has become the brahmin of bull. Or: if it soundslikefiction,readslike fiction, feels like fiction, then I regret that it is fiction. It is best testimony that captures the essence of the

Lall

VP,nowCaptainFantasy. Still, I have to love these two guys. Thanks to their tireless efforts, there are few other countries where supporters think that chronic corruption is a democratic ideal, the fruits of free and fair, and with nobleAmerica e n d o r s i n g t h a t interpretation.

In this country, PPP Government agents actually believe that pathological lying is one of the Ten Commandments, and mandated by the Guyana Constitution Something tells me that that beauty came from one of the church people on the inside, with constant thievery now a sacred right of elected and selectedGuyanese.

To lie is to live large, and with proof to tender Think budget, oil fund, loans,andinfrastructure,and in tandem they form the PPP Government's unfinished magnum opus at the midway point. Thanks for a job well done! America is proud. And so is Exxon. We have a skater and ballerina for leaders, and cheerleaders with pompoms urging them on. Ishouldgetacontractto buildsomething.