Rohanie Persaud’s arguments are baffling

Oct 03, 2009 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
Rohanie Persaud (an obviously fictitious name) writes (Kaieteur News, September 24) in the mode of an attack dog. Such writing is fast becoming an established genre of political writing in the local press.
A long time supporter of the PPP, Boyo Ramsaroop, publishes a nice letter explaining with logical and reasoned arguments why he chose to change his affiliation from the PPP to AFC, and makes the claim that the AFC is the only bona fide multiracial party in Guyana. Rohanie argues that AFC is not, but I am unable to understand her arguments. For the benefit of readers I would like to advance three criteria that should help to evaluate whether a party is multiracial or not.
(1) Does the party have a written or unwritten rule that its leader can only be drawn from one particular ethnic group?
(2) Does the party draw practically all its votes at every election (more than 95%) from one particular racial group?
(3) Do the party’s delegates at conventions and its Executive and Central Committee overwhelmingly come from one ethnic group?
With regard to Criteria #1, AFC has been around for less than five years, and it is not possible to make a conclusion.
However, the Guyanese people have had more than 50 years to observe the behaviour of the PPP and PNCR – and there is no room for doubt that the PPP is absolutely committed to the idea that its leader can only be an Indian and the PNCR, an African.
With regard to Criteria #2, no reasonable and decent Guyanese would doubt the fact that more than 95 percent of the support of the PPP and PNCR come from one particular group, Indians and Africans, respectively. No amount of spinning from the ruling party’s hired guns would change these facts.
I recall the watershed election of 1964, in which the numbers for both parties were more like 98-99 percent. All the elections since 1964 have been nothing but grudge matches between the Africans and the Indians.
With regard to Criteria #3, pictures and reports of parties’ conventions in the independent press leave little doubt about the fact that both the PPP and PNCR are nothing but ethnic operations.
Where did the AFC’s votes in the 2006 elections come from? Did practically all its votes come from Indians – and if not, from Africans? The Guyanese people know the answers to these questions.
Considering the above three tests, there can be little doubt that the AFC is a genuine multiracial party.
The AFC personifies the best hope of uniting the nation’s major racial groups and fulfilling the promise and potential of Guyana becoming a great multiracial democracy.
I conclude by asking this question of Rohanie and of all decent Guyanese people: Do you really like the idea of your beloved nation being stuck in this political and racial quagmire for another 50 years?
Mike Persaud

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Rohanie Persaud’s arguments are baffling

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