…for elections??
In the long-running cartoon, “Peanuts”, one of the staple memes was Lucy inviting Charlie Brown to kick a football she’s holding on the ground. But as soon as he’s about to, she cruelly pulls the ball away and he lands on his behind. And no matter how many times she goes back on her word, Charlie chooses to engage in the same behaviour once Lucy promises she won’t renege on her word. He, of course, pays the same price, over and over.
The point of it all is Charlie considers Lucy a friend…but she never was and never will be. She always places her interest above everyone else’s: she’s all about Lucy! Charlie is actually an “enabler” of Lucy’s cruel behaviour. He goes back again and again hoping things will be different, but deep in his heart, knows it won’t be. Unless he quits believing her, he’ll continue to be tormented. And this is where we arrive at David Granger’s apparent volte face to issue a proclamation for elections to be held on March 2, 2020.
Your Eyewitness was one of those who thought Granger was on the up and up when he came into office in 2015. He referred to himself affectionately as “Pressie” and confessed as to how he had a soft spot for the avuncular looking “officer and a gentleman”. But your Eyewitness isn’t Charlie Brown and after a while, he answered the question posed by Bob Dylan: “How many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he just doesn’t see?” For him, the answer, dear reader, wasn’t blowin’ in the wind.
It was there staring at him in the face: Granger wasn’t any friend of Guyana or the Guyanese people. He only cared about fulfilling the legacy of his hero Burnham – even though that was a legacy that spelled the doom of all that we hold dear. There was the humungous salary raise, the Jubilee scam, the stiffing of the AFC, the racial selectivity in governmental hiring and the vindictive closure of 4 sugar estates. But even those all turned a whiter shade of pale in comparison to what he did to our Constitution over the last year.
For pelf and power, he has degutted the one institution around which we stood a chance of constructing a “Guyanese identity” based on equality of treatment on the substantive rights of our Constitution. How can we trust Granger when he could deny the validly passed NCM through that ridiculous claim that 33 wasn’t the “majority” of 65!!?? Or that the CCJ didn’t meant that elections should’ve been held by Sept 18??
Your Eyewitness won’t be an enabler of Granger’s perfidy!
…on the voters’ list??
Now, for the holding of elections, we must first have an “Official List of Elector” (OLE), no? Well, the GECOM Boss Lady said she’ll have such a list by end Feb 2020, and seemingly on that basis, Granger issued his March 2 date. But like we pointed out above, nothing’s ever straight when the PNC’s involved. One of the “crooked” possibilities, intriguingly, was pointed out by the Chronic: “AG urges swift hearing on challenge to non-residents on voters’ list”.
Remember that?? Nah…you thought with Granger’s proclamation, all obstacles were gone!! Well, they’re not. The Chief Justice, of course, has ruled that there weren’t any residency requirements for Guyanese citizens to vote. Once you’re on the OLE, you can exercise your franchise. GECOM just rescinded an order that would’ve effectuated the resident requirement. But that doesn’t mean anything, does it??
The AG’s claim, after all, will be before the Appellate Court – where two of the three justices agreed with the AG that 33 wasn’t the majority of 65!!
Lightning can strike twice!!
…the floods
If you needed confirmation of climate change precipitated by global warming, just visit the sea wall around high tide. The Dutch built those walls (mud dams in the beginning) hundreds of years ago.
Never were they “overtopped” like this!!