Silence and sloth

Sep 03, 2026 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

(Kaieteur News) – The death plunge of the MV Barima qualifies as a national catastrophe; an unprecedented local human tragedy. Obvious beyond argument, above denial. Yet, in its grim aftermath, there’s the reverse of what should be happening. With intensity and honesty. With frequency in duty to families and country. Where, when, and how have those been? Instead, the strategies and tactics of PPP Gov’t operators have centered on two prongs that sabotage a disaster of this numerical, emotional, grimness. The prongs are silence and sloth. Both have slick, tricky objectives. Both also represent another fork with two pointed horns.

Silence in this small country for a tragedy as big as the MV Barima exposes its purveyors. Resonates piercingly in the tiny national echo chamber. From mouth to mouth and ear to ear. Guyana is that interconnected. Everyone is on the same time zone, the same platform. Why silence? What’s there to fear? To hide? The PPP brass should have learnt what other government did belatedly. Silence doesn’t suppress. Silence attracts attention. Silence intrigues. Why silence after the great, excessive outpouring of manufactured pieties from the head-of-state to those who head nothing, others who can’t account for their own heads?