Dear Editor,
As election test bubbles flow, I venture to share the thoughts of an ordinary observer.
Whether this quarter or next, or whenever, the thinking, conscientious Guyanese voter is faced with a handful of simple questions; a few only. First, has the PPP executed anything of substance, of sustained significance in its crowded corruption domain since November 2011? This should be of special interest to the some 50,000 absentee voters from that last exercise. For a certainty, these non-voters will be reminded of people transferred, people recalled, and people removed. In his turn, the voter must ask himself if anything of any moment was really done.
Second, voters – that is, those outside hardcore race voting multitudes – must ask themselves this: Has the PNC (APNU) done enough, or anything resembling such, to inspire confidence that it is the viable, needed, demanded alternative? Undoubtedly, the right stands have been taken re hydroelectric and anti-money laundering. But what else? Just as corruption has been the bone lodged irremovably in the deep throat of the PPP (and it has loved it), has the PNC moved to ease the weight of the albatross named race laced around its neck?
While the two Stone Age political survivors are both afflicted with exposed Achilles heels in terms of race, the PNC is more vulnerable, and this rises to the level of a near fatal flaw.
These are the three questions Guyanese face; they are as quinquennial, as they are now everyday. There may arise questions about the so-called ‘swing vote’ and the spoiler presence of the AFC. I see them as immaterial and minor as to relevance and result. As to the ‘swing vote’ I think it is currently a local mirage, virtually non-existent and thoroughly inconsequential.
Editor, having said all of this, I now ask one last question, this one more of myself than others: Where does this leave this hapless society?
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
