This fantastic, democratic achievement of the PNC

Mar 02, 2011 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

We all have our electoral preferences. Our choice as to who should lead our country must at all times be based on rational thinking. The wrong human being can create dictatorship and havoc in a nation, whether rich or poor. We saw that with Hitler in the West. We saw it with Chavez in Venezuela. Both were elected through the ballot.
At all times, a citizen must meticulously examine the fundamental nature of the person he/she is going to make the governor of the land. It is one of the most sacred duties we perform in life and we have to be extremely cautious who we choose.
The four victories of the PPP have brought disaster to this nation. I say from the deepest, inner recesses of my heart, that I believe Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo has inflicted irreparable harm on Guyana. That harm will take superhuman efforts of another government to repair. I say from the bowels of my soul, the PPP’s reign has brought the politics of evil and the evil in power to this land.
I cannot see how anyone in the PPP, save for Moses Nagamootoo and perhaps, Navin Chandarpal, can bring freedom, justice and integrity in governance to Guyana should the PPP win again. The scientific fact is that the PPP hasn’t got such people at the top.
Even if Nagamootoo should lead the PPP into the 2011 poll, he will have to bring on board a significant number of new faces.
Tacuma Ogunseye, many years ago, demanded to know how I voted throughout my life. He did this after he outlined his voting career. I have stated more than three times in my columns what I did when I first went into the ballot station in 1985. I first voted for the WPA. The WPA got my X again in 1992. My choice was the TUF in 1997 because I thought that the Amerindian people deserved the votes of all of us.
I went for GAP-ROAR in 2001, again with the view that we needed to give the Amerindian party a chance. I balloted for the AFC in 2006. I swear on my parents’ grave (actually my mother was cremated) and on my only child, that I never voted for the PNC or the PPP.
This year, the PNC appears enticing to me. Mr. David Granger is a breath of fresh air. I would have written the same if Mr. Greenidge had won. These two men are good political material for Guyana. I know that Mr. Granger will make an excellent president. And if circumstances should change, Mr. Granger could get my vote.
I am committed to the AFC or the party of Mark Benschop. It has nothing to do with how I feel about Mr. Granger. I prefer to see the AFC be given a chance to save this country. I believe Guyana’s future is also tied up with young human rights activists like Benschop.
Having said that, I now write the rest of this essay as a trained social scientist and a trained historian. What the PNC did at Congress Place last Saturday marked the end of the PNC as a party of conspiracy. The PNC is now a new entity, one we should show respect for. Guyana has now seen the birth of democratic politics.
On Saturday, the PNC created history for itself and in the process changed Guyanese politics in a historic way. There has only been one greater historic moment in political evolution in this territory since the Jagan/Burnham split in 1955. I refer to the PPP/Civic Government after 1992.
This formation was a break with the old culture. An old styled, communist/authoritarian organization led by two essentially autocratic personalities (Dr. Jagan and Mrs. Jagan) had agreed to share political power outside of its monolithic walls. It turned out that this was one, big fat, juicy lie.
There was no power-sharing, there was no entity officially named the Civic Component; the Civic Ministers had no independent power and were willing subordinates of Freedom House.
This leaves us with the only true break with the old political culture that had monopolized political behaviour in Guyana, except for the period of WPA’s existence, and that is the Saturday phenomenon where the PNC held an open rivalry among contenders for its leadership.
It began a month ago when those candidates had to face questioning from the Guyanese people. The die is cast. The PNC has gone in another direction, one that should have been taken a long time ago. The new, democratic culture of the PNC will give it fresh life and may well bring it power in the forthcoming election.

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