Proper strategising, scrutinising and leg work beat the PPPC in Region Ten

Feb 17, 2012 Letters

Dear Editor,
The utterances by President Donald Ramotar that the “PPPC lost a seat in Linden due to racial campaigning by the opposition” (Stabroek News dated Tuesday, February 14th, 2012) are the words of a sore loser who had bragged and sought to deceive those not residing in Region Ten that they will win the Region.
The strategy in the previous two elections (2001 and 2006) and in 2011 was to undertake a PR campaign to portray themselves (the PPPC) as having gained considerable support in Region Ten and then to rig in the riverain areas.
Unfortunately for Mr. Ramotar and the PPPC, as APNU Laison for Region Ten, when I was drafting the strategy I placed significant emphasis on scrutinising the elections, especially the riverian areas and deprived the PPPC of their hobby – stuffing the ballot boxes in remote and unscrutinised areas.
I do believe that the people rejected the PPPC in 2011, but the opposition failure to implement a comprehensive national strategy to effectively and efficiently scrutinise PPPC strongholds and distant and remote areas allowed the PPPC to practise its hobby of stuffing the ballot boxes. It managed to scrape home as a minority government.
I challenge the PPPC to bring one tape in which race was used in the APNU campaign in Region Ten or any evidence that we did as you do–campaign under bottom houses based on race. There can be none for it never happened.
APNU’s campaign was carried by a corps of young and intelligent people (guided by a few with experience) who knew the issues and campaigned based on those issues, while the PPPC was busy implementing its other strategy of seeking to bribe its way to victory while bringing people by bus and boat to Linden to appear as if they had support.
Suffice to point out as well that the PPPC blatantly and unashamedly used public servants and state resources to campaign. By now I hope those public servants who violated the rules and campaigned for the PPPC have been dealt with in keeping with the Public Service rules and regulations.
If the PPPC is a useful party and did a proper review then it will recognise that it was trounced in Region Ten because the APNU had a better organised campaign, a well worked out strategy with the concomitant clear messages, none of which was based on race, well organised and well publicised meetings, plenty of house to house visits, a good combination of youth and women, a list of new fresh faces that have been able to connect with the people while removing those in the region in whom the people would have lost confidence.
In a nut shell, it was a localised campaign that read the pulse of the people and responded to it. The PPPC was beaten by proper strategising and the implementation of an election plan that was based on plenty political leg work and the scrutinising of the elections while allowing young people to be innovative.
Another factor that resulted in the PPPC being trounced, is the people of Region Ten in general, and Linden in particular, view that the government deprives them of their right to private radio and television and therefore discriminates against them. What the government believes was a positive for them ended up being a negative.
It is pertinent to note here that race may have played a role in the last elections. When Dr. Roger Luncheon in an attempt to protect Mr. Jagdeo and the PPPC told the court that there were no African Guyanese qualified to be ambassadors he may have infuriated the African Guyanese population and unknowingly rally them to APNU.
In football terminology that was not of APNU making; it was a PPPC own- goal. While this is a possibility, the evidence is anecdotal. The PPPC has the resources to undertake a scientific study. Probably, in a rare gesture of good will by the PPPC government, it can give the University of Guyana the money to conduct the survey.
Aubrey C. Norton

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Proper strategising, scrutinising and leg work beat the PPPC in Region Ten

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