—David Hinds

The AFC’s rejection of potential electoral partnership with the PNCR ignores changes in both the main opposition party and the political landscape, according to WPA Executive and coalition advocate Professor David Hinds.

“For the AFC to deal with the PNC as the PNC of the 1970s is a fundamental political mistake,” Hinds argues, while saying that more emphasis needs to be placed on saving the country.

Following the AFC decision, the PNCR, GAP, WPA and NFA have committed themselves to the creation of a broad coalition to contest next year’s polls. Stabroek News was told that in reaching its decision on forgoing any possible alliance with the PNCR, the AFC’s National Executive Committee was guided by the feelings of supporters who were against working with the PNCR in “its current state” as well as the party leader.

“There have been changes in the PNC itself,” Hinds said during a WPA-organised “Groundings” discussion on Wednesday, when the state of the party was among issues raised. “No political organisation stands still.

The PNC itself has undergone changes and part of the differences the PNC is having is how to function in this new era. The whole issue of democracy within the party, the whole issue of opening up the party in a way that is inclusive rather than exclusive, I think that in itself is a testimony that the PNC is undergoing change,” he said.

The PNCR’s showing at the last general election and its general ineffective activism have fuelled serious criticism of its leadership although party leader Robert Corbin has managed to hold off successive challengers.

Hinds noted that when the WPA emerged as a new political force it was faced with the challenge of trying to nurture a new political culture while engaging with old political forces. “The WPA confronted that in dealing with the PPP,” he explained. “The PPP belonged to the old politics and so the WPA had to find a way to deal with it despite that fact.” He said led by Dr Walter Rodney the WPA was able to change the context of the politics from racial division and animosity to a multi-ethnic drive towards a common good. “We were able to deal with the PPP on new terms,” he said, “And I think here again the AFC’s position of not dealing with the PNC or the PPP ignores the fact that you can deal with old political forces once you change the context and you introduce a new politics.”

The WPA in the 1970s had argued strenuously that the PNC could not be part of a government of national unity and reconstruction, Hinds recalled. “Our position then was that the PNC was the problem and therefore could not be part of the solution,” he said. By 1984, however, in light of both regional and global trends, he noted that the WPA announced that “a PNC that agrees to free and fair elections is a PNC that you cannot ignore and that we are prepared to work with.” In this regard, he stressed that the WPA’s position on the PNC is not a recent one. “…So I think that to talk about the PNC and the PPP as though they are stuck in time, I think, is a mistake. Yes, there are attitudes in the PNC and the PPP that are old attitudes. One cannot ignore that. These are old parties. They are set in some ways. But these parties, like all parties across the world, have to take cognisance of the changes occurring around them,” he added.

PNCR Vice-Chairman Basil Williams said the PNC had changed from the party it had been prior to the 1992 elections and he emphasised its efforts to reach out greatly to other parties and groups towards establishing alliances. However, according to him, the most important issue is not the PNC but rather the government and the manner in which it has been managing the affairs of the state. “How parties are organised right now should not be the overriding consideration,” he argued; “it should be the goal of coalition.”

Williams said parties have to put their differences aside since they are all equally dissatisfied with the government.

He added that he did not believe the AFC’s participation in an alliance is a closed issue and as a result he reiterated the need to “keep the door open” until the party sorts itself out.

Political scientist and columnist Freddie Kissoon said while he believed the AFC should rethink its position, it also needs to make demands for serious changes in the political culture before entering a coalition. He suggested that the PPP/C and the PNC having collaborated on legislation against crossing the floor in the National Assembly and instituting recall mechanisms for MPs have institutionalised the old political culture.

“I think there has been serious deterioration in the PNC’s political culture,” he added. “I hope it doesn’t continue.” Kissoon noted that after the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, some former communist parties “regenerated” themselves, sidelined persons who would not have brought them votes and ended up winning the majority in a number of countries. He questioned whether there have been “transformational, attitudinal [and] strategic” changes in the PNC since the last general election. “…The PPP and the PNC were collating in dividing up regional seats. [They] collated and took money away from the AFC. So, the PNC is a recalcitrant in this configuration. You can’t ask the AFC to forget about the atavistic reversion of the PNC in the [1970s], you have to take all these things into consideration,” he said.

Kissoon added that he hoped that “the present impasse in the PNC and some of its unelected leaders” are not cemented at Congress Place.

Hinds, in response, said the WPA still has a lot of differences with the PNC, including the murder of Dr Walter Rodney. “These are things that are there but the question we are asking is whether in the final analysis we can let the country continue to be ruled by what you yourself called an elected dictatorship because we have some differences among us.” He said there needed to be a balance between what the political forces did in the past and the new developments. “I continue to hold that the PNC, like the PPP, like the WPA, has undergone changes because the world has moved on,” he said. “There have been changes. Some of the changes are not fundamental. But we always have to take those new developments into consideration.”

Williams, meanwhile, said he did not know of any “unelected leaders” with the PNC executive.

Recently, former PNCR MP James McAllister said the PNCR needs to repair its credibility to ensure it can effectively participate in any electoral alliance.

He characterised its image as “tattered,” citing the damage raised by suspicion over its internal electoral processes. “The whole issue of the party’s internal democratic processes remains under question,” he explained. “In any attempt to go towards an alliance, it will impact its acceptability and its credibility.” McAllister has been a supporter of the two successive campaigns against Corbin.