Mr. Oliver Hinckson got it wrong

Sep 15, 2014 Letters

Dear Editor,
Please allow me to refer to a letter written by Mr. Oliver Hinckson, which was published on September 12, 2014 in the Stabroek News under the caption “There should be a coalition between the AFC and PNC with the presidency rotating”.
In that letter the author stated. “If the PNC ever want to get back in power they must form a coalition with the AFC, and through the elections remove the PPP by popular vote. The AFC must tell their supporters and the PNC that they will have the presidency for three years at first, then the PNC will have the remaining two years of the term of office”.
I wish to say that even though I respected Mr. Hinckson’s position on this issue that is controversial in the public eyesight, I could not agree with him for a moment, since I see that the ruling PPP/C could not be defeated through any election coalition of AFC with PNC now or even in the future so easily.
Any coalition between the two main opposition parties, the AFC with the PNC will give the ruling PPP/C party a landslide victory at any new elections in Guyana.
The main reason for this is that ethnic voting is ALIVE and well and established in Guyana even as we speak, and more so, it continues to eat away at the core of this nation and it is a sad state of concern that needs to be address urgently if we SERIOUSLLY want to see the removal of this dictatorship and incompetent PPP/C Regime from office in any new general elections.
However, Mr. Hinckson needs to understand is that Guyana is a completely different country from the rest of the world when it comes to voting.
We are not a country like Trinidad although it is a multi-ethnic society like ours where the people there vote on national issues rather than race in elections.
We in Guyana choose ethnicity over issues when it comes to voting and this is a proven fact…and that is why this PPP/C Government has been in power for the last twenty-two years undefeated since winning 1992 general elections.
I strongly believe that if the majority of our citizens put aside race, and address the issues of national concern that are affecting all us today such as the high cost of living, high unemployment rate, high crime rate, poor health care system, poor education, bad governance and mismanagement of our taxpayer money etc, we would have seen a change of Government ever since in Guyana-particularly, when the AFC was formed and contested elections in 2006 under its slogan, “Vote for Change Not Race”, where everyone was expecting a turning point in terms of ethnic voting.
In the end, however, the AFC got six seats, with the majority of their votes coming from Afro Guyanese communities, while others continued to vote on racial gourds, which resulted in the PPP/C having another victory at the 2006 poll.
There is no doubt that race was effectively used to construct and sustain the PPP/C Government’s dictatorship for over twenty years after the 1992 general elections.
Had Mr. Hinckson known different, he would never have said that if the PNC ever want to get back in power they must form a coalition with the AFC, and through the elections remove the PPP by popular vote because it is very difficult for the PPP to be kicked out of power easily.
The birth of the AFC confirmed the existence of ethnic voting in our society, but also showed that Afro Guyanese are mostly about change and voted beyond racial grounds while others refused to do so. As such, I do not see that the ruling People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) will ever be defeated in new elections.
Until we as Guyanese stop voting with our skin and hair and start using our brain to select a political party that can govern and protect our country in the best interest of all us, regardless of the political party leader’s ethnicity, that will be the end result of the existence of PPP in office .
Therefore, Let us all join and end ethnic voting at the next elections and vote for progress, betterment and modernization in 2015 where our nation’s motto can stand and present us as One People, One Nation and One density once again.
Rayvonne P. Bourne

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Mr. Oliver Hinckson got it wrong

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