IT’S A BOY!

Jul 23, 2013 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The third in line to the British throne is born! He may one day become the King of England and Head of the Commonwealth.
One thing is certain. The successor to the British throne will be a King. Both the first and second in line are all males and with a third in line now being born, and being a boy it is almost certain that whoever succeeds Queen Elizabeth will be a King and not a Queen.
Guyana does not have a monarchial system. We have presidents and prime ministers, but whoever wins the next election is likely to be a virtual King or Queen if that person is supported by the economic oligarchy that now has command of the Guyanese economy.
This is why the forthcoming Congress of the ruling People’s Progressive Party is important. It will signal who is likely to assume the presidency of Guyana come the elections in 2016.
No one is certain whether Queen Elizabeth will still be around in 2016 but when it comes to Guyana it is almost certain that President Donald Ramotar will not likely seek re-election in 2016.
By the time the next elections come around President Ramotar will be nearly seventy years old and while this is not old for politicians, it is likely that the party may, given its performance in 2011, be looking for younger blood to inject greater appeal into the party’s campaign for re-election.
President Ramotar does not seem too enthusiastic about moving away from the policies of his predecessor. He has been very reluctant to change course and has publicly indicated that he does not wish to create his own brand on the Presidency.
This alone should suggest that the Presidency is in a holding mode and that the forthcoming Congress will witness jockeying for positions with the most popular candidate becoming the front- runner to be the PPPC’s Presidential nominee, and ultimately the next President of Guyana.
Make no mistake, the PPP cannot lose the Presidency in 2016. Because a great deal of attention was paid to the fact that the PPPC was denied a majority in the National Assembly, it may have missed notice that the PPP won the elections by almost a landslide which is considered to be 10 percentage points or more. The PPP barely fell short of a landslide.
It is next to impossible for APNU to close the gap that the PPP has over it. APNU in fact failed to achieve the support registered by the PNC in the 1992 and 1997 elections and it is doubtful if the PPPC corrects some of its campaign mistakes that APNU can ever gain the 40 odd per cent that it obtained in the 2011 elections.
As such, the PPPC is again likely to win the Presidency, this time with a larger margin. In this process it will be helped by the obstructionist practices of the Opposition parties.
These parties assume that if they allow the airport project, the Marriott hotel and the hydroelectric project to go ahead the PPP will achieve an unassailable popularity rating with the public. They fail to appreciate that by blocking these projects, they are playing right into the hands of the PPPC who has already begun a propaganda assault to point out to their supporters that APNU and the AFC are anti-development.
The average citizen is keen on cheaper electricity. You play into the hands of the PPPC when you deny cheaper electricity to the people. A plane ran off the airstrip last year. When you cut out of the project monies to extend the runway, you are playing into the hands of the PPPC who will point out that a necessary development is being cut for no justifiable reason.
The Opposition parties are concerned about transparency and corruption but have done little to convince the public that their objections are about these issues. They have played right into the PPPC hand’s because the PPPC needs these types of obstructionist maneuvers in order to demonstrate to their support base that the Opposition parties are anti- development.
With the deck now stacked in favour of the PPP, the forthcoming Congress of that party will definitely see the future Presidential candidate emerge. The big question is whether it will be a boy or whether it will be a girl.
The frontrunner is Robert Persaud. But Priya Manickchand is also a popular choice and the Presidential slot may well end up being a straight fight between these two Cabinet colleagues.
Persaud has the edge because of his superior performance as a Minister but the tide may well turn and the public may feel that it is time that Guyana returns to having a female President.

Latest News

IT’S A BOY!

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| March, 28th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Fantastic Wharton snipes haul-trick in 11-0 win

Back Circle bests Gold is Money to retain crown

DCC continues winning ways thanks to Imlach...

All-round Headquarters retain title in dominant...

Yarrowkabra smashes four in Tutorial, as Dolphin,...

Ramesh Chattergoon smacks 110* in ESCL T20,...

Features/Columnists

Choosing between bad and worse

The U.S. “Joining” the Commonwealth: an unreasonable expectation

The Jagdeo Govt press report: horrible

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

IT’S A BOY!

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show|| March, 28th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]