Stella Says…We have all had a good dose of Silly Season this week

by Stella Ramsaroop

(Originally published in Guyana's Kaieteur News on 30 July 2006)

A columnist should be able to comment on current political and social happenings in a way that demonstrates the impact a certain event will have on the reader. With this in mind, I do not even know where to begin on the list of very bizarre events from this past week.

I suppose we should start from the beginning of the week when, after the PNCR publicly announced it would contest the elections under the One Guyana platform that included several smaller parties and organisations, the WPA then announce it would not to contest the elections and pulled out of the same coalition.

Subsequently, One Guyana coalition participants began dropping like flies. One by one, the One Guyana platform fell to pieces and is nothing more than a shell now with only the PNCR and the NFA left in this buddy system. Silly season is in officially in full swing.

In the middle of all this madness, Bibi Shadick held a press conference to say she didn't say what she said, but then said what she said again - plus a few more words. Ah, you just gotta love politicians, eh?

Minister Shadick, who felt she was misunderstood about her comment that the young women who claimed to have been drugged and forced to conduct sexual acts actually appeared consensual, decided to clear the air for all of us.

This time she said. ""What I said is that I saw two still photographs which had allegedly appeared on the Internet and in the absence of any other evidence or information it seems to be consensual sexual activity."

When I read this statement, I scratched my head and then cocked my head to one side thinking I had misread the statement. After clarifying that I had read Shadick's clarification correctly, I then shook my head at the silliness of it all. This official had just said the same thing again!

As if we didn't get it the first time around, the Minister made sure we understood this time around that the photos she saw appeared to be consensual. Only this time, she made sure we knew she lacked any other evidence by which to make her judgment.

Funny, I didn't know she was even a judge. In fact, if she is not a judge, she should not be giving her personal opinion on this matter at all. As a Minister of Home Affairs, she should be gathering every bit of evidence that she can possibly find to make sure justice is pronounced over the situation. I wonder if she has any more evidence than just those two still photos now?

I just adopted a little kitten for my youngest daughter. He is so adorable and starts to purr when someone walks up before they even start to pet him. I got him a cute toy that has feathers at the end of a long stick and he loves to chase it. It's funny to watch his eyes go in all directions when I turn the feathers in a circle. His eyes go round and round as if he is drunk, but he just can't take his eyes off of the feathers.

Although I don't have one, today's column should rightly have a picture of me with my eyes circling round and round. I'm sure that I am not the only one who feels this way about this silly week in Guyana's silly season.

I quickly found my footing though as my keen journalism senses kicked in and told me something was stirring. I often wonder if all of this silliness is part of a sinister plan of a cock-eyed politician who just wants to shift our focus to the silliness so he can wreak havoc elsewhere while we aren't watching.

Maybe I've just been watching too many cartoon shows with my daughter…or maybe I just can't believe all of this silliness is actually happening. Can a Minister of Home Affairs really attempt to clarify a silly statement by virtually restating the same thing? Even worse, does she think we are all so dense that we won't notice that she is saying the same thing? Now that is silly.

This is only the very beginning of silly season, so I can't wait to see what the next few weeks will bring by way of entertainment. No need to watch a re-run on television at all. Just pick up your daily newspaper or turn on your local news for all the entertainment you could possibly want from the country's leaders.

I wonder if we can get Smart and Sharp Robert Persaud to do a song and dance for us?

Email: StellaSays[at]gmail.com