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Nigel Hughes is best suited to lead a third political party

Apr 16, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
I would hate to be critical of Freddie Kissoon in any commentary whatsoever. Freddie is one of four great Guyanese who have raised the consciousness of the Guyanese people. The other three are Forbes Burnham, Cheddi Jagan and Walter Rodney. My letter here does not single out Freddie for criticism but he is included in my sweep because of the approach I have taken which Mr. Editor I will develop as I go along.
Guyana is on the verge of having a third political party and without exception, all the names for its presidential candidate are Indians. This I have a serious problem with. I have read letter after letter and all the names mentioned are Indians. Freddie Kissoon heads the lists. Of the names that are being talked about, I would have no objection to Freddie Kissoon. Freddie is a unique person that can pull serious votes across Guyana. For the record, the Kissoon’s candidacy is accepted. He is the best person to lead a third party into the next election. But it still leaves the question why only an Indian presidential candidate.
I think Freddie will decline to go into politics so I will now leave him out the picture and introduce a Blackman and compare him with nominated Indian candidates. I read about Christopher Ram. Why Ram and not Nigel Hughes? Can Mr. Ram succeed among voters more than Nigel Hughes? The answer is obvious so I move to number two, Ralph Ramkarran. Are people fair in their commentary when they put Mr. Ramkarran in front of Nigel Hughes?
Please tell me Mr. Editor, how will Mr. Ramkarran stack up against Black voters, how will Nigel Hughes stack up against Indian voters? This is where I see the unfairness in judgment. If commentators are saying that you have to go with Mr. Ramkarran because an Indian will do better than a Blackman then I cannot accept that for the simple reason that I believe there is a Blackman that is more likely to get cross-racial voting than an Indian, with the exception of Freddie Kissoon. That person is Nigel Hughes.
Mr. Editor, we can do the math and you will see it for yourself. Blacks will not trust Mr. Ramkarran because they still see him as a dye in the wool PPP. Mr. Ramkarran fell out with the people who corrupted the PPP not with the PPP itself. Mr. Ramkarran still loves his party and Dr. Jagan. Mr. Ramkarran will fall short because he will need a percentage of Black votes which he will not get. Only Freddie Kissoon could get that. While Mr. Ramkarran will struggle with Black voters Mr. Hughes will not have a hard time winning over Indian people chiefly among them being the business class, young educated Indians and the Indian middle class.
Let us stack up Major-General Joe Singh against Mr. Hughes. I read the other day a glowing tribute of the multi-racial stock of the General and the call for him to enter politics. I believe the General will take the step. Mr. Editor, I humbly beg to differ with this picture. Leave Freddie Kissoon out of the equation and you don’t have an Indian with very deep multi-racial credentials. I am sorry if the General takes this the wrong way but I am sharing my opinions and I do so based on how I feel. All respect due to the Major-General. I accept him as a multi-racial man.
If the Major-General enters party politics I cannot and will not accept the notion that he is a favoured candidate to be given the presidential nod over Nigel Hughes. No, Mr. Editor, it will not work. It would be unfair to treat outstanding Black candidates like this. I hope the third party gets off the ground. This is how I see it – a Freddie Kissoon- Nigel Hughes ticket. That would be a moral booster for Guyana. I do not see Freddie Kissoon entering party politics so let us leave him out in the reckoning, now and in the future.
The third party should be headed by Nigel Hughes. I am open to Mr. Christopher Ram or Mr. Ramkarran or Mr. Joe Singh being the number two man but as I said Mr. Editor, outside of Freddie Kissoon, our man should be Nigel Hughes. I cannot see it any other way, Mr. Editor. Please let’s keep race out of this thing. The Nigel Hughes candidacy is based on facts on the ground not race-thinking. I hope my respondents act accordingly.
Selwyn Bynoe
New York

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