While expecting that the major parties will be pulling out all the stops at the 2020 elections, former United States Ambassador Perry Holloway says that defusing the racial conflict that has been fueled by politics will require work by both sides of the divide.
“It is going to be a very hotly contested elections, it is no secret, and Guyanese know that. Both parties know that whoever wins this will be in power with a lot more wealth and if you do good things with it, it probably allows you to stay in power for a long time. I think both sides are going to be pulling out all stops—I am only talking about legal stops—and they will do everything they can to win,” Holloway told reporters during an exit interview last week.
“I am from South Carolina, a place that still has racism to this day. When I was younger, boy it was much more prominent and quite frankly, outside of politics, I don’t notice the same racial conflict [here in Guyana]. I am not saying it doesn’t exist, but I rarely see Indos and Afros not playing together, working together, and doing things together all of the time. It seems like politics is a place where it gets more charged… I don’t have a magic bullet or potion for that. It takes both sides. You are never going to solve it if only one side wants to solve it. So, somehow, both sides have to figure out a way to come together and work this out,” he added.
