The stage is being set for permanent PPP rule

Oct 14, 2012 Letters

Dear Editor,
Countless persons on Friday evening after the rally (held at the White Castle Fish Shop on Hadfield Street where Dameon Belgrave was killed by a police bullet) have been saying to me that the opposition parties have to go and speak to the Guyanese people about the racial incitement that the PPP is frenetically spreading since the Agricola protest on Thursday night
Though that may be a concern, the opposition parties have to ask themselves why the PPP is doing this. One and only one motive exists. After the race sentiment is whipped up, after the ethnic fear spreads, the PPP is going to call a snap poll.
The intention is to become a majority government again. A snap election is called, the PPP wins with the votes of the people in Berbice and Essequibo and they rule Guyana dominating the Regions where they have lost devastatingly
This has been the pattern of elections in Guyana where the PPP loses comprehensively in certain Regions and those Regions are reduced to enclaves of servitude. Is this what the opposition wants if they participate in another general election?
It is less than one year since the PPP lost in Region 4 and Region 10. Look at the power of the elected administrations in these Regions. They are totally powerless. The Region 4 government has no authority to govern over any area of life in Demerara unless the central government approves of their policies. This is a vitiation of the sacred principle of free and fair elections
From the time the election results were announced last November, the PPP has sought to instill ethnic fear in its supporters with one specific goal – call another poll and win the election. (remember Ramotar’s accusation that on election day PPP supporters were prevented from voting by the opposition; then there was the nasty Chronicle attack on Black youths).
The PPP is going to seriously look at the possibility of a snap poll. My bet is that with the gigantic milking of the Agricola protest (it is going on non-stop all over PPP traditional areas and PPP controlled media houses), the election will be called.
It is for the supporters of the AFC and APNU to call upon their leaders to decide if they are going to participate or not. In my speech at the rally on Friday night, I made it clear that morally and politically, I will not be able to campaign in the next general election if there aren’t far-reaching constitutional changes.
As an academic that studies political behaviour in my country I think this nation has been living with an electoral nightmare since 1992. The description is simple.
The PPP has won the plurality of votes in five consecutive elections with a narrow ethnic base yet has completely dominated this country reducing citizens in Region 4 and 10 to their puppets. Not even signals from other television channels can Region 10 receive.
The Region 4 administration would not be allowed to give permission for investors to start up a radio station. Yet in both of these Regions, free and fair elections resulted in the loss of power by the PPP. By what logic then does the PPP govern Regions 4 and 10?
If there is a snap poll, are APNU and the AFC going into this same situation? If they are, can they tell us what future they have if the PPP wins a majority and what will they do if that majority came through ethnic voting rather than national support across racial lines?
I have very personal friends in the opposition that would lead this country into a wonderful future if they win at a national election. But I will not be involved in another election battle.
The Constitution should be changed before the general poll because it is essentially a flawed document. For APNU and the AFC to go into a snap poll, they are certainly risking their own demise and that of their supporters. For me, I am through with election campaigning. I will not even vote
Frederick Kissoon

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