Another new political party has emerged and while it will wet its feet at the June 12 Local Government Elections, it has sounded its intent to try and shake things up at the 2025 general and regional elections.
The Movement for Unity and Democracy, founded by photographer and videographer Keron Bruce, is presenting itself as another option to the dominant duo, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).
The executive of Movement for Unity and Democracy comprises President George Gonsalves, Vice President Lynn Medford, General Secretary Denzel St Hill, 2nd Vice President Dhan Shyamraj, Assistant General Secretary Marcia Lewis, Treasurer Nazia Mohamed, Assistant Treasurer Brad Singh, and Executive Members Rashan Reid, Bruce, and Telroy McAlmont.
According to the movement, its vision “for local government in Guyana is centred on creating sustainable, equitable, and inclusive communities. Our goal is to establish a transparent, accountable, and responsive government that is capable of delivering effective services and meeting the needs of all citizens. We recognize the importance of the rich history of local government in Guyana and will build upon it to create a modern and innovative system that is responsive to the needs of the 21st century.”
Additionally, it said, it stands on eight pillars: comfortable living standards, inclusive and shared governance, community development, culture, youth, and sport, education advancement and training, decreased levels of poverty, adequate attention to the development of new and existing businesses, raising awareness of climate change, and reducing the rate of domestic violence and crime in our communities.
In an interview, Bruce pointed out that the idea had been on his mind for a very long time as he felt that voices were not being heard. He also opined that there was a need for change in Guyanese society.
“… I knew that I was networking with a lot of young people, who had similar ideas and I thought [we could]… come together and basically promote this type of change and unity. It’s not a major start but it’s somewhere. We only fail when we give up and I don’t want to give up on Guyana. A lot of persons would have given up, migrated and so on. I’m living here and I have no intentions to leave and I want a country for my child… a country that’s fair and just. I thought it was my responsibility to step up,” Bruce said
A volunteer pool was created to help push the movement, then it was on to who wanted to contest the election, followed by a background check on each candidate. With the team being set, the main aim is to now have the goals of the movement fulfilled in order to become a third-option party.
“We want to try to actually move the country beyond understanding politics as merely just a PPP/C or a PNC thing and understand that there are many people who exist in Guyana for which the PNC and the PPP/C don’t not adequately express their interest and so we are coming to people to offer that option…,” Gonsalves said. “We want to change the atmosphere around politics, to let people know that you can take control. Good ideas don’t belong to just the PNC or the PPP/C…”
This, according to Bruce, is possible because the party will not focus on power but will focus on letting the system work.
“We are not interested in getting power. We are interested in democracy and seeing the system work and we want to also have a seat at the table to represent our constituency,” he said, adding that this will be achieved since the party will remain independent.
“We are not AFC and we are going to try to remove the knives from the back of Guyanese people. We, of course, understand and acknowledge that it’s a concern for persons because they would have trusted this type of thing that we are talking about,” Bruce said.
“So, let’s say we contest the general election in 2025 and we get five seats, just for example and you got to be real. The AFC got 7 seats in 2010 and the persons that would have voted for AFC, they were fed up with the system and they are still fed up with the system and they are still out there. …We could find them and appeal to them by getting our message out,” he added.
However, since the change will not happen right away and knowing that the movement is new, Bruce said it will focus on representing the things which have the people at heart.
“We need to manage our expectations even though it’s possible that we could gain control of an area. We have to manage our expectations, that whoever wins we will cooperate with them. It’s not aligning with them, but we need to work with them to promote this time of unity and democracy. So, let’s say a certain party wins Georgetown and when we go to City Hall something is being done, we are not going to look at the issue of what is good for a party, we are going to look out for the interest of the people and what is in the best interest of the people regardless of which party the idea was originated from,” he noted.
While the movement remains fairly new to some, others have raised eyebrows since Bruce recently found himself accused of being the controversial cartoon character ‘Mud Wata’; his house was also shot at.
Bruce’s response to this was that the events in his life have pushed him to do more for society. The shooting, he said, was also the last straw which forced him to become more proactive for a change.
“I’m also pushing back. As you have noticed, people would have come for me, they have ended up in court. The incident where I’m accused of being a cartoon – that is still sub judice but they have not been able to lay out a case against me as yet. And, I don’t see them making any progress in that area. So, I’m going to stand up for myself and be an example as to how you can defend yourself against the system,” he stressed.
He intends to be an example for others to show that they could win by fighting the system.
The Movement for Unity and Democracy’s manifesto can be found at:
