Dear Editor,
The notion of a no-confidence vote seems to have acquired a robust life of its own. In fact, the momentum of the idea may have surprised even the AFC, resulting in the party jumping headlong onto the runaway bandwagon. But someone has to provide balance; somebody has to play devil’s advocate and ask, has the AFC really considered all of the possible outcomes of a successful no-confidence vote?
The near certainty that the President Ramotar will try to stall his administration’s departure has been examined in Freddie Kissoon’s column (KN, July 9) and in your newspaper’s editorial (SunS, July 20). It may be worthwhile to consider the most probable outcome of elections, given the current reality.
Barring an AFC/APNU pre-election coalition, one of two things will happen; the PPP/C will obtain a plurality, or not. Most would agree that at this time, all things considered, the PPP/C will likely win, perhaps with a narrower margin than now obtains. This is arguably the most probable outcome. Some persons have said that this result would take us back to square one. But this is not true. The fact is, following such a result, Guyanese would be far worse off than they are now.
A highly probable PPP/C win with a narrower margin would again saddle Guyanese with a minority executive and the legislative gridlock which has brought us to this place. In other words, the negative features of this dispensation will be preserved. To add to that, the PPP/C would have obtained a new five-year mandate, condemning Guyanese to another term of poor and undemocratic governance. Does the AFC think that Guyanese would thank them for such?
Most analysts agree that President Ramotar will not be the presidential candidate in the next election. Most agree too that Donald Ramotar, unlike many others, despite his shortcomings, is not corrupt. Therefore, considering the probabilities, Guyanese will likely get a less desirable president than Mr Ramotar. Is this what we want?
Would it not have been much wiser for the AFC to plan, think, and discuss these matters before tossing this idea into the public domain? Guyanese have suffered long enough under this regime, we cannot afford to hand the PPP/C another five-year term on a silver platter. As it is, the PPP/C regime is committing blunder after blunder; why not exercise some discipline and allow them to finish the job of burying themselves?
Most Guyanese are understandably impatient to see the back of this regime. But we need to remember that a no-confidence vote will not be the end of the struggle; instead, it could be the beginning of worse. AFC officials may not be able to jump off of the speeding bandwagon, due to popular opinion.
But their constituents can certainly encourage them to start thinking. And I sincerely hope that they do so.
Yours faithfully,
Mark DaCosta
