Dear Editor,
Former president, Mr. Granger, was recently quoted in the media boasting that he is the first ‘PNC’ leader since 1985 to win an election – he was seemingly making a pitch to his supporters for re-election as party leader. I get the impression that Mr. Granger was proclaiming that ‘1985 win’ as his legacy. I beg to differ. Mr. Granger is a decent family man, an academically brilliant individual and a leader who was not financially corrupt, but that is as far I can go in saying anything positive about him. In saying that he was the first PNC leader since ‘85, I am interpreting that he is implying he was a better leader than Mr. Hoyte. Very funny. Mr. Hoyte was a visionary, a transformational leader and the best president this country ever had. If Mr. Hoyte had served two more terms after 1992, Guyana would have achieved developed country status. Guyana’s racialized voting system was the reason Mr. Hoyte did not win another election and why it is impossible for the PNC to win a free and fair election. Mr. Granger, it was the AFC influenced Indo-Guyanese votes that made you president.
The AFC votes were so important that it caused me to remember the situation in a Caribbean country where two major parties held the same number of seats (let’s say 24 each) and the third party that contested held only one seat. The small party leader told the two titans that he will only collate to form a government with the party that is willing to make him prime minister. Of course one of them agreed. Thus the smart, sensible and only logical thing then was for Mr. Granger to (if he had wanted to cement his legal hold on power) treat the AFC nicely – give them real power, allow them to expand their base. To be precise, give the AFC prime minister real power, give an Indo AFC member the Ministry of Agriculture portfolio and let those two individuals be visible in regions 2, 3, 5 & 6. Instead Mr. Harmon received all the power in the world and PM Nagamotoo was given Information and some parliamentary nonsense to overlook – so much so that Mr. Jagdeo would poke fun by saying that he had no real power.
Mr. Hoyte had the unenviable task of going against his own Party’s failed policies. But he did. And came out smelling like a rose in the end. When he became president his first task was to signal that he wanted a violent-free reign, thus he jailed his Party’s enforcers. When the violent kick-down-the-door bandits began to reign terror he brought the ‘hangman’ out from retirement and ended that period of terror. He brought back flour. He had the testicular fortitude to make strong decisions – hence his Economic Recovery Programme came in. At first it was very rough but within two years prices started to go down. When a minister was accused of wrongdoing he was asked to resign. At the start of Mr. Granger’s term a minister was publicly exposed for asking GRA officers to ‘stand-down’ from an assignment. Mr. Hoyte would have fired him on the spot. Mr. Granger, after justifiably criticizing the PPP about their corrupt ways for years, allowed the minister to continue along his merry ways. And he did.
I am mystified as to what Mr. Granger’s policy or plan was. He did not seek to bring in new investments but instead taxed his suffering supporters more by increasing the cost of government services everywhere. He brought on a set of old, retired men (some from overseas) whilst his young, faithful supporters were left out. He committed political suicide by sending home thousands of sugar workers. A simple plan would have been to divest the industry and commit the buyers to retaining a certain number of workers and find work for the rest. Mr. Jagdeo is definitely at the opposite end of the intellectual spectrum to Mr. Granger but he made Mr. Jagdeo look like a genius – this is by no means an endorsement of Mr. Jagdeo, rather, it is an indictment against Mr. Granger. Mr. Granger’s act of bypassing his young supporters, having no policies to improve the lot of Black people and presiding over a government of men and women who became so arrogant and pompous that, except for Ms. Volda Lawrence, had no time for their people has caused Afro-Guyanese, who prior to 2015 would have laid down their lives for the cause, to have no time for PNC or politics. Once Mr. Jagdeo is around the PPP will never play by the rules (already we see the disparity in judgement – one set of people are jailed for 72 hours then charged and another set are referred to the Auditor General). When PPP practices injustice it is the power of the people that reins them in. Under Mr. Hoyte advantage could not have been taken against his supporters. Mr. Granger’s failed leadership has made his supporters passive.
When the No-Confidence Motion was passed against his government, because it was a vile, evil, treacherous act, all he needed was to obey the constitution and call elections within three months and he would have gained sympathy. Mr. Granger did otherwise and the rest is history. Ms. Desiree Bernard at a U.G. convocation said “education without common sense, is worse that common sense without education”. Who in their right mind will try to rig an election after the votes are counted at the place of poll? For not conceding power within one week maximum, and based on his failed policies and weak leadership, Mr. Granger’s legacy has now enabled the PPP to be in power for the foreseeable future. Non-blacks will not trust black people with power again – and who can blame them? Imagine in 2015 even his own supporters had had enough of Mr. Jagdeo and had turned their backs on him; this was the chance to rid this country of a man that ran it as if it were his personal possession. Now Mr. Jagdeo is a hero and is seen by his supporters as their saviour against perceived PNC’s bullyism. If APNU/AFC had conceded early they could have entertained the hope of returning to power in the next elections. Come 2025, God willing, if either Mr. Granger or Harmon happens to be the presidential candidate I will not be voting.
Sincerely,
Trevor Charles
