APNU needs a passionate leader with more political experience

Jul 14, 2014 Letters

---

Dear Editor,
Many years of observing the political play in Guyana has stimulated a passion in us to want the best for the people especially the poor and the working class who are struggling to make ends meet. For some time now, we have been calling a spade a spade by exposing the corrupt practices and other wrong doings of this greedy and uncaring regime. With the outcome of the 2011 elections, we thought that those electoral results would have provided the first opportunity for the post-Jagan PPP to act with a sense of rationality, soundness and fiscal discipline in the best interest of all the people and not just for their wealthy friends and supporters.
It was never to be, since the minority PPP regime has certainly not gotten the quality of opposition they deserve from APNU. We have tried our very best to give the benefit of the doubt to Mr. David Granger since his occupation of that office, but when we think he has reached the lowest ebb of his term and he is on a rebound, he continues to defy political reality. All the nation has gotten from Mr. Granger is political positions that complement the PPP’s wicked agenda rather than interrogate them and take appropriate political action to stop further corrupt acts and other wrong doings, including the raping of the Treasury.
For example, the Minister of Finance has on three occasions spent billions of dollars that were not approved by Parliament and yet he remains unsanctioned.  Instead, APNU is now signaling that it wants to take the matter to Court rather than throwing all its weight behind the AFC’s call for a no-confidence motion against the PPP.  In an environment where the PPP seems to hold a fairly large sway over the judiciary, APNU continues to submit itself to the Courts rather than to the people. In a country with such a weak, compromised and antiquated judiciary and a powerless legislature, the ultimate arbiter has to be the people.  Why is Mr. Granger afraid of the people? Why has he allowed the PPP to disarm the PNC of its most potent weapon—peaceful demonstrations? Where is the fire in Mr. Granger to fight for the rights of the people? Maybe, he is satisfied with his lackluster performance because those around him are afraid to speak up for fear of reprisals. Just ask Vanessa Kissoon, Aubrey Norton and others who were rebuked by the party’s leaders.
Another example of this weak leadership in the Office of the Leader of the Opposition is the incident where Parliament has passed a motion of no-confidence against Mr. Rohee in 2012.  In spite of this action, we find that in 2014, Mr. Granger led his team to vote for funds for the Office of the Minister of Home Affairs, thus giving more political power to Mr. Rohee. Since then, Rohee has turned his venom on a passive David Granger and APNU.
Then in a political environment where the PPP continues to publicly broadside the majority opposition on a daily basis, up comes Mr. Granger offering the PPP bullies a “social contract” to promote national unity.  This is not only an unreasonable, unsound and irrational political strategy but also the action of a political novice. We are telling Mr. Granger that he is wasting his precious time calling for a national front government because it will not happen in this century or in the next. The PPP will never be interested in sharing power with the combined opposition. Further, no experience political leader will say that he is not ready for elections or the people of Berbice are on their own to make sure that the PPP lower the tolls on the Bridge. Is this the strategy of a political rookie showing all his cards to his opponent rather than keeping them close to his chest? This suggests that the defeat of the PNC/APNU at the polls is inevitable.
According to reports from the media, there is an internal party incident between Ms. Vanessa Kissoon, Mr. Oscar Clarke and maybe others.  In such a situation, due process would dictate that all parties involved be withdrawn from the process and allow an independent disciplinary committee to investigate the matter and pronounce on its findings.  What we find instead is executive disorder in the PNC since only Ms. Kissoon was suspended, while the other was allowed to influence the investigation. If Mr. David Granger cannot run his party impartially, how can the people trust him to govern the country equitably? What kind of message is the PNC leadership sending to the youths of Guyana?
As we dig deeper, these incidents expose a much bigger issue. What are the stated goals of Mr. Granger as the current Leader of the Opposition and what has he achieved for the people since he was elevated to that office? We continue to struggle to find evidence of actual gains for the people under his leadership; no Local Government Elections, no Procurement Commission, no tangible increases in salary for the workers, no satisfactory increase in old age pension, no end to the unlimited and reckless waste of the taxpayers’ money including millions being given to Jagdeo for his pension and unlimited medical, travel and household expenses,  no reduction of VAT and so on.  We can list dozens of more shattered dreams of the people since 2011. Where is the vision? Where is the political mettle? Where is the political passion and will? We just have not seen any real political action from Mr. David Granger where he has taken the fight to the PPP and won. One of Mr. Granger’s weaknesses is that he continues to allow Mr. Ramotar to dictate to him when and where they should meet and what issue should be discussed. We have said repeatedly that Mr. Granger should meet with Mr. Ramotar at a neutral location such as Parliament and not in the Office of the President.
If you are a PNC supporter and living in Guyana since 2011, your chances of economic and social progression have dwindled and we can only blame Mr. David Granger for failing to fight for his supporters. The PPP has gotten so bold that they have declared economic apartheid against communities deemed pro-PNC. Just ask the Lindeners and the people in New Amsterdam. These issues are not even mentioned by Mr. Granger. Why? In fact, he continues to make mistakes and trips over them.
We have no reservation in clearly stating that it is better to have someone with more political experience and passion as the leader of the PNC rather than Mr. David Granger since he appears incapable of taking the political fight to the unrighteous and corrupt PPP regime. If he continues as leader of the PNC with such lackluster performance then the people will have two choices. One, they will most likely stay away from the polls which means the PPP wins and two, they will support the AFC en-mass, which means the people win since the PPP continues to lose thousands of supporters in Berbice and elsewhere to the AFC after 2011. The AFC is now waging a serious battle in Regions Two and Three—PPP strongholds. Where is APNU? Why is Mr. Granger not taking his message to the Indo-Guyanese communities in Guyana as he did in Richmond Hill, New York in May?
We wish Mr. Granger personally all the best but a man must know his limitation and must be true to himself even if he cannot be true to the people especially at his age. It is time to act with boldness and outfox the PPP, Mr. Granger. We are watching you daily!
Asquith Rose and Harish Singh

---

---