Only a political solution can save Guyana

May 29, 2011 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Ravi Dev’s quite stimulating article, “Who to deconstruct?” was a relevant addition to the collection of ideological thoughts on the political solutions for Guyana.
Let me be absolutely clear, Guyana cannot be saved unless we have a political solution. Since 1992, our political progress has been most pathetic and that is why persons like Tacuma Ogunseye can find currency with their unhelpful public language.
I remain convinced that the PNC and the PPP are the major drivers of the problem and the Alliance for Change (AFC) is the best prepared and equipped political force to drive the political solution needed.
The people are finally realising this actuality and this can be the answer to why the people continue to flood the AFC with their message of hope.
As a significant takeaway from our political outreach, we constantly hear comments like “you AFC people are like a fresh breeze after 50 years of the PNC and PPP brand of democratic centralism”.
As a result of our interaction with the people, our core mission remains to continue focusing on the solutions for Guyana especially our developmental needs such as creating the new jobs, arresting crime, implementing the vitally needed political reforms and repairing the moral and social degradation encouraged and fostered under this Jagdeo regime.
However, any political force worth its salt will never forget its ideological foundation and ours is liberal democracy.
If anyone studies our ideology of liberal democracy on our website www.voteafc.com, one can easily find that the AFC is against the Democratic Centralism/Socialism/Party Paramountcy ideology that drives the PNC and the PPP.
Our liberal democracy ideology clearly is designed to foster a system that “incorporates a wider social responsibility” for the people so that the people can be empowered to keep the Government in check.
So in no way is the AFC the political force that is blocking the exit from the politics of the past. That responsibility principally lies with the PNC and PPP.
They are the ones who are not amendable to changing the status quo of preserving the powers of the ruling cabal at the expense of the people (yes Team Corbin is also part of this cabal). They are the ones who had a chance for the last 50 years and did not create the jobs, did not arrest the crime, did not deal with our socio-political degradation because it served their vested interest.
The AFC on the other hand does not have one ethnic critical mass. Our members come from all ethnic groups, our leadership is from all ethnicity and from different political past and thus we can proudly market ourselves as the only and largest multi-ethnic political party in Guyana. However, one thing that keeps us all together is our practice of liberal democracy, power to the people.
Let me make it clear, the AFC encourages the renewal of the political energy of the country by way of the ballot box. What the AFC does not subscribe to is violent riots and physical and other forms of racial abuse of a person of the same race or another race because of their ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation. What the AFC fully subscribe to is our ideological philosophy of liberal democracy which clear commits the AFC to:
1. Defending and increasing civil liberties of the people against the encroachment of the government, powerful institutions and other powerful forces in society;
2. Restricting or regulating government intervention in political, economic and moral matters affecting the citizenry, thus providing the opportunity for wider social responsibility of the people;
3. Increasing the scope for religious, political and intellectual freedom of citizens;
4. Scrutinizing demands made by all interest groups seeking special privileges thus minimizing the influence of business buddies of the ruling cabal;
5. Developing a society which rewards citizens on merit, rather than on rank, privilege, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation or status;
I trust that the political analysts and all Guyana now have a better understand that the AFC is truly the party that addresses the fears of all ethnic groups and we are committed to leading on changing Guyana’s political landscape. As the AFC’s political Fact Sheet No. 3 reveals we regard any coalition as a political compact comprising groups and individuals that share our common beliefs.
We do not believe the PNC or the PPP at this point in time are committed to or share our beliefs. Their modus operandi of exploiting the ethnic security dilemma of our people in order to maximize their potential vote count even it mean a fractured Guyana, is just not acceptable to the AFC. We see such actions as raw political opportunism on behalf of the PNC and the PPP.
So why collate? We are not interested in a pappy show!
President Jagdeo speech at Diamond continues to expose the fears of the PPP with respect to the political actions of the AFC. But more mudflat “cuss down” from the chief citizen just will not fly. If our chief citizen is smart enough, he would realise we do not care for his crab march comments since in our books it is a well establish fact that he was promoted way beyond his intellectual capacity and all his “dutty talk” day in day out will not change our mission. The people must know the truth, the people must know who is using them for what end.
The people must know who has their “blood on their hands” and I have seen evidence that not only the PNC has blood on its hands, the PPP does too. President Jagdeo, one of your own PPP stalwarts is writing a book on the PPP blood actions. Hopefully that person gets it published before the next elections.
These 2011 elections are about the people, not the PNC and the PPP. So far we in the AFC remain convinced that the people in increasing numbers are on the path of decreasing the electoral strength of the PNC and PPP. It is important that we know and implement what the people want as against what the Political Powerful Predators (PPP) wants or feels is best for the masses.
By the way, what are the ideological beliefs of Donald Ramotar? Maybe Ravi Dev can help us deconstruct the ideology construct of Donald Ramotar, his long time nemesis.
Sasenarine Singh

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