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A democratic way of choosing a presidential candidate
Dear Editor,
Mr. Winston Murray has announced that he is interested in being the PNCR’s presidential candidate for the 2011 elections. As a Leguan boy I am very proud that a native of the island has shown such an interest. I do not know him personally but my father did and he had a very high opinion of Mr. Murray.
In the mid 1960’s when I was a toddler we lived at Rev Sohan’s house which was next door to three of the Murray families at La Bagatelle and I went to Sunday school with them at Maryville Presbyterian Church. In fact Mr. Murray’s relatives Patsy and Bernice taught Sunday school.
I can say without fear of contradiction that Mr. Murray would have been imbued with high moral values by his family and the church community, values so much needed in Guyana today. I read that he opened batting for Leguan.
This was probably in the 1950’s. I hope he had more shots in his repertoire than his cousin “Caddybhai” who played in the late 60’s and who could only slog to square leg irrespective of where the ball was pitched. However, I am sure Mr. Murray has an adequate reservoir of political and leadership skills to cope with his struggles ahead. He will make a fine presidential candidate and I wish him well in his endeavours.
The PNCR members now have a choice of two very good presidential candidates in Brigadier David Granger and Mr. Murray. I hope that after the party elections common sense will defeat egos and Guyana will have a Granger/Murray ticket with one as the presidential and the other as the prime ministerial candidate. Both gentlemen will make an excellent team quite capable of rescuing Guyana and rebuilding the moral fabric of our society.
That the PNCR has allowed such an open democratic way of choosing its candidates must be recognised as historic and ground breaking. It is the very first time this has happened in Guyana and the PNCR’s members must be congratulated.
It shows that they have always had an innate respect for democracy that was unfortunately compromised by their leadership in the past. This is an indication that future PNCR rule will abide by all democratic principles.
Unfortunately for Guyana the ruling PPP is still hell bent on maintaining its communist style of imposing a candidate on its membership and by extension on the nation.
This indicates that the PPP is not yet prepared to democratise itself and will therefore continue with its dictatorial and poor governance if re-elected, whether it is Mr. Ramotar, Mr. Ramkarran, or Mr. Rohee at the helm.
The AFC leadership also seems predisposed to foist a candidate on its membership. One would have expected that the AFC would have been the first party to implement a democratic system of choosing its presidential candidate, but I suppose it was so busy being a loyal and docile opposition that it has nothing new to offer Guyana.
So if one were to remove one’s ‘ethnic lens’ and view recent political developments fairly and objectively one has to score points for the PNCR members, and zero for both the PPP and AFC.
Malcolm Harripaul
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