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Looking forward with much interest to the election campaign of a trained military man

Jun 28, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor,
I congratulate Mr. David Granger on his appointment as leader of the new opposition coalition, even though APNU is as yet just another name for the PNCR.
In a previous letter published by KN, I had made the point that Guyana population-wise is split right down the middle with the East Indians on one side and the other races on the other, and while the PPP controls the East Indian half, no single Party has been able so far to establish control over the other.
The PNCR controls the largest group within the second bloc, but has been entirely unable to win the confidence of the other minority groups, while the PPP has been making inroads into those groups and in fact is largely in control of them.
I do not know if I will be accused of racism when I say I truly believe that if the situation were reversed, that is, if the Africans were half the population and the East Indians between thirty to thirty-five percent with the other races making up the balance, that second bloc would have been organised a long time ago under East Indian hegemony with the friendly and willing co-operation of the other races, and since there is always a certain amount of fluidity in the electorate, free and fair elections then would have been a contest between two strong and equal parties selling themselves on their programs and not on racism.
There would have been no call in despair for partition or power sharing.
In support of this view, one doesn’t have to look too far, just a glance over to Trinidad and Tobago would suffice.
There would have been two-party democracy in Guyana in its truest sense, with none of the racial strife that has been bedevilling the country for so long.
If Mr. Granger’s final objective is to get APNU to be the party for that second half, then his cause is worthy and he should be supported, but his task will not be easy. He will have to start by building trust in all the people, the one thing of which the PNCR is terribly short.
In the building of that trust Mr. Granger should show he has faith in his partners and should not let the PNCR grab everything.
Since he is the PNCR’s choice for the Presidency, it would be a good start to let the position of List Representative go to another member party, as for instance, the WPA. I will be looking forward with much interest to see what happens here.
I am not one to tell a trained and experienced senior Army Officer anything about strategy, but I think that in the upcoming general elections APNU, secretly of course, should not aim for victory, for at this point in time that will be ‘a bridge too far’, and it should not seek to absorb the AFC.
The battle now to be won is to prevent the PPP/C from gaining a majority, and for that, a two-pronged assault by two well-organised opposition parties, both with competent and charismatic leaders, will be more effective.
If that strategy succeeds, then of course there will have to be a coalition government, and that will begin to stir up the political waters of the country, which had remained stagnant for too long.
Mr. Granger will also have to seek the support of at least one of the two independent daily newspapers.
I wish him well, and will be looking forward with much interest to the election campaign of a trained military man.
Kumar D. Doobay

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