The Return of Sarah Ann Lynch

THE 592-GUARDIAN OPINION

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The Return of Sarah Ann Lynch

OPINION BY : GHK LALL

My position was always clear. Excellency Sarah Ann Lynch, U.S. Ambassador to Guyana during 2019-2024, was more than a Foreign Service professional, more than a political appointment. What the CIA did to the PPP’s Cheddi Jagan in the 1960s through the combined efforts of the media, trade unions, and nefarious political operators, the agency did with Sarah Ann Lynch in the face of the PNC’s David Granger in 2019-2020. Now, Excellency Lynch is back. Political success means economic rewards. A little scripture may also help to nudge Guyanese in a thoughtful, national direction: what is hidden has a way of coming to light. Democracy for Guyana, or the paramountcy of U.S. interests, is the choice.

Excellency Lynch was the one-woman army that was on the move, always moving skillfully, even over to the Office of the then Leader of the Opposition, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo. It was too much, too rich, too unlike the more studied, restrained efforts of diplomats. Whose orders from the world capital are let local processes stand supreme. Said differently, be a peacemaker not a warrior envoy. I recall the late Jimmy Carter in Panama during the reign of Manuel Noreiga. In sum, when the Americans want to be rid of real or imagined threats, the jobs get done. Sarah Ann Lynch filled that role superbly. So well, that some Guyanese wanted to make her their new Queen Victoria, i.e., erect a statue in her honor.

Now Sarah the Great is back. More subdued. More on the sweet, smiling, side. But still in the mold of a general on the move, but with new objectives in mind. That is, very much involved in moving what is in U.S interests along.

What’s a better vehicle than a trade delegation to manifest such interest, with her as the lead player? She knows Dr. Jagdeo well. Dr. Jagdeo knows both Excellency Lynch and how much he and the PPP owe her. It’s an inspired choice by Washington to send down its diplomat cum best kept secret agent now wearing her new hat of trade envoy. Both trade leader Lynch and Guyana’s leader Jagdeo know that it’s collection time: the piper has to be paid. In a word -opportunities. In two stages: open the door and let in a flood of Americans. The downside is getting ready to see the Chinese relegated to second chair, a much smaller one that reduces them to a shadow. Ms. Lynch’s presence is part of a pattern. Check it out.

Americans in influential positions have been saying it more often, more openly, now: the U.S. must be closer positioned, enjoy a bigger drag, on the Guyana milking cow. Recall two Guyanese political patriots, Messrs. Todd and Persaud. Whether here or in DC, the language is the same. Security, aviation, technology and, naturally, that codeword for business, investment. American businesses must get more, and there are no two ways about it. I don’t have a problem (yet). The PPP Govt’s problem is how will Dr. Jagdeo serve two masters who each have their own interests, demand priority treatment simultaneously? The Chinese must be monitoring these incoming U.S. delegations and outgoing Guyanese ones, with alarm. They didn’t too much for democracy back in 2019-20. But they have been good for PPP style of business for decades. How the Guyana’s milking cow is going to be milked by these two elephants remains to be seen. Recall that the French are also lining up, making their objectives clear (more business here), and the British are singing the same song.

When all this is aggregated, Pres Ali and Vice President Jagdeo see themselves as investor darlings. Reality can be a vicious animal. The foreign legion-Americans, Brits, Chinese, and French (Canada’s gold cup already overflows)-stalk, come to grab. The PPP Govt has no choice, but to give. Freely. Cheaply. Smilingly. There was Dr. Jagdeo grinning from ear-to-ear. His 2019-2020 bargaining partner, Excellency Sarah Lynch, is back in town. Thus, the world turns. Remember: Americans only have permanent interests, merely convenient friends. Marco Rubio could talk cheese.