Dear Editor,
Timothy Jonas says: “ . . . . . only two places to put his X, both representing the PPP and the PNCR, which he said have caused Guyana much harm for 50 years”.
(1) A healthy body politic cannot develop in Guyana unless forces rise up to cut down the hegemonic hold the PPP and PNC have on the two major race groups – Africans and Indians. PPP and PNC are ethnic parties: they inculcate racial insecurities among their ethnic constituency and goad them into voting race. So, all elections in the last 60-years have become grudge matches between African- and Indian-Guyanese. It is like a drug-induced mental condition: If I don’t vote for my group’s ethnic party, I will make it easy for the other ethnic party to ascend to power.
(2) In Feb/March 1990, a Washington Post reporter had interviewed the U.S. ambassador in Georgetown. The ambassador had said, “You cannot have democracy in Guyana”. Why not? “Because every last man here votes race”. The majority race group will always take power. It becomes “ethnic triumphalism”.
(3) I had personally lobbied the PNC to take steps to transform their party into a genuine multi-racial party. I visited their HQ at Sophia in 1997 and 2010. My last discussion was with Robert Corbin in 2010. I had asked him to endorse Winston Murray (who was of mixed race but was generally perceived as Indian) to become the leader and presidential candidate of PNC. I told him, “If the PNC did not have a Winston Murray, you would want to invent him. Murray can change the perception of the party”. It did not happen. PNC is happy being perceived as an African-Guyanese party. They do not need or care for Indian support. The few Indians in the party are there for show – window-dressers.
(4) Cheddi Jagan had earned a reputation as a genuine non-racial leader. He had many stalwart African-Guyanese among the PPP’s top leaders – Brindley Benn, Cedric Nunes, EMG Wilson, Ashton Chase, Roger Luncheon, Sam Hinds. And, when he passed on, there was an expectation that the leadership would pass on to one of those loyal, dedicated Africans. It never happened. Jagdeo turned the party into a hard-core Indian-ethnic party. Only an Indian can be leader. And, all of this was happening in a largely bi-racial country. As a strategy, it is at once dumb politics. The message he was sending: ‘I don’t need African support’. He only needs Africans as window-dressers, only fit to be Prime Minister, never President.
(5) Both PNC and PPP should be disbarred from practicing politics in a largely bi-racial country. (“Bi-racial” used here only to simplify my argument; not intended to disregard importance of other races). The politics, these parties practice can only exacerbate racial insecurities and tensions.
Let me conclude this, lest it gets too long and provoke the editor’s axe.
I support generally all start-up parties – ANUG, Amerindians/ Shuman, Berbice Lawyers’ party, FED-UP). They are needed. The most important function they will potentially serve is to force the PPP and PNC to end racial politics in the land. It is my hope that the Guyanese people of all races will see the wisdom of supporting these new parties, of ending the hegemonic hold of the PPP and PNC on Indians and Africans, respectively, and of heeding the warning of a former U.S. ambassador.
2015 might have seemed like a breakthrough when PNC/AFC combined forces and took power. The Coalition government failed for a single reason. PNC, usurped power, disrespected and disregarded AFC. Corruption and scams (drug-bondgate and several other scams) became the norm. And worse, they abused power – made it seem like an Afro-Guyanese takeover of the State. Several Indo-Guyanese (AG’s office, Registrar’s) were pushed out unceremoniously and brutally. Eighty-five out of 115 appointments to top jobs went to African-Guyanese.
There were several monumental abuses of power. One was the appointment of an 85-year-old man to head the Elections Commission. Three lists had been submitted, every name had been rejected. It is like all sanity and decency went through the window.
In the interest of
disclosure: I had hosted candidate Granger to dinner and talks at my house in Queens, New York. And, although I am a committed activist for ending racial politics in Guyana, transcending party politics – I had crossed the line and ended up endorsing candidate Granger and daily blogged in support of his campaign. He was such a very likable gentleman. So, what happened with the govt. he ran? Was he too soft, became a titular head, hardcore PNC guys held the real power?
Well, well, the Guyanese electorate hopefully, will soon figure that out.
NYT’s Purdum wrote this of Mayor Dinkins: ‘He was a compassionate man, a real decent gentleman, but he lacked toughness. A good leader must embody compassion and toughness in equal measure’. I am now of the opinion that president Granger lacked the toughness part and never stood up to the hardcore folks in the PNC.
The president in the United States embodies total executive power (does not share power collectively with his Cabinet). In Guyana (Westminster model), presidents must share power with Cabinet as well as the Executive Committee of his party. (The principle of Collective Responsibility). Whatever is the true explanation, there was/is a widely held perception, that president Granger was never in charge.
Even in the No-Confidence motion, president Granger’s and Prime Minister’s acceptance of the validly-passed resolution is not worth the breath spoken with or paper written on. The folks who took over and invented new theories in Mathematics, selective citizenship restrictions, fake bribery investigations – they have removed every semblance of a Constitutional democracy. They have run amok. President Granger has the executive power to put an end to this – he will not. I hope the Courts will. And, I hope the Courts will order elections to be held within the Constitutionally-mandated 90-days.
Yours faithfully,
Mike Persaud
