Dear Editor,
Reading Henry Jeffrey’s letter in SN of August 13 (‘A unitary opposition slate is a critical component if government is to be captured and governance transformed’), one is tempted to recall the sage who wrote: “The learned are beautifully equipped for a world that no longer exists. The learners will inherit the earth.” Dr Jeffrey is certainly in the category of the learned and this is borne out by his historical examples of doubtful relevance. The persons who want to take our country forward, however, must be prepared to be learners who are ready to study our actual circumstances, our aspirations, and our vision of a different future.

Leaving aside the historical anecdotes of questionable value, Dr Jeffrey’s basic points are two-fold. First, people have always voted and will continue to vote race. Strange this…very strange! I have heard him cogently argue the exact opposite while he was a government minister in the PPP. Second, whatever the wrongs of the PNC and its leadership may have been (and, like those of the PPP, they are many), one should ignore them all and jump into a broad-based big tent with them, not knowing very well what it is that the contemporary PNC and its leadership stand for.

I reject both of these points. After being expelled from the PPP for attempting changes therein, I joined the AFC out of a belief that one has a duty to offer young people in Guyana a vision of political struggle uniting people of different backgrounds behind a shared blueprint of the future. I categorically reject Dr Jeffrey’s assertion that people will never cease to vote race. What I believe is that we must be steadfast to the vision of the AFC and give the people of Guyana a chance to rally behind it at this and at future elections. I shall remain steadfast to this belief.

I also reject the idea that one must be ready to join the PNC and PPP in a big tent with all the past and present baggage they have, and about which it appears they want to do nothing about. I do not wish here to enter into even the present blemishes of them both – PPP and PNC. So to expect anyone to join a big tent, either severally or jointly, with tigers with these stripes is to enter into a ring with the full knowledge that one will be devoured. That one will be the AFC!

I have believed, and continue to believe, that the AFC’s vision of a different kind of politics is one that deserves to be upheld for the future of our country. I shall remain faithful to that vision.

Yours faithfully,
Khemraj Ramjattan