Dear Editor,
Since 2011 when Mr Granger accepted the leadership role of both the parliamentary opposition APNU and the PNC, there has been increasing evidence of the militarisation of the opposition’s leadership.
Legally, actively serving members of the Disciplined Forces are prohibited from active politics. Thus, retired officers dominate the political leadership, including Collins, Harmon and Felix.
The 2015 election campaign has seen an unprecedented increase in the presence of actively involved retired military personnel, many residing abroad, mostly in the USA.
The impact on the serving military is as expected. Mr Granger had been warned of the implications of the militarisation of his campaign. The history of the military’s role in the perpetuation of the illegal undemocratic Burnhamite PNC regime is recent still and painful; it is a blot on the military tradition in Guyana. One that Guy-anese should try hard not to forget.
The spectre of the PNC and the military becoming political bedfellows again must be disturbing to most Guyanese.
Political machinery run by the military is no longer fiction; Granger made it happen. Guyanese can only think of the implications of the military-political alliance succeeding in the coming election. The candidate list of APNU+AFC will confirm our worst fears.
Yours faithfully,
Roger Luncheon
Head, Presidential Secretariat
