I advocate for another political formation; it is needed

Apr 29, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
I believe that there is need for a third party in Guyana. Dr. Cheddi Jagan added the Civic to the PPP because he believed that the PPP was not serving all the people of Guyana. President Desmond Hoyte added the Reform to the PNC because he believed that the PNC was not fully representing the needs of all the Guyanese people. President David Granger formed the APNU because he believed that the PNC could not fully represent the needs of the Guyanese people. Hughes, Ramjattan, Trotman, Holder and others formed the AFC because they believed that the PNC/R (APNU) and the PPP/C were not representing the needs of the Guyanese people. The APNU joined with the AFC because they believed that no one of them, neither the PPP/C, could represent the needs of the Guyanese people.
All Guyanese would admit that in 50 years, the only time Guyana’s Parliament functioned objectively was when the AFC formed a part of the brokerage in the Assembly. The autocratic behaviour of the PPP was highlighted and called into question. The majority block in Parliament opposed the Government, they moved a no confidence motion and it forced President Ramotar to prorogue the Parliament.
Then the AFC got excited and went to bed with the APNU and they are now just as alive as the WPA, with just as much clout in the Coalition. When the AFC merged with the APNU, they took a risk. The result of that risk is now a public spectacle. Therefore, what is now needed to stabilise the governance of Guyana, is a third party in the Parliament that will provide a counter balance to what these winner-take-all kinds of governments are doing.
The Civic arm became lost inside the philosophy of the PPP, and they begun behaving identically like them. Former Prime Minister Samuel Hinds (my mentor and friend), now says he is a PPPite. There were never any traction from the Reform arm of the PNC, to wit, the PNC seems ashamed to even mention that the Reform has unceremoniously withered on the PNC vine. Now the AFC is on life-support as it is smothered under the PNC wings. The AFC should have remained an independent party. Yes, the leaders would not have become ministers as quickly, however, the PPP would have continued to self-destruct and the AFC would have eventually become the government.
The notion that Guyana does not need a third party in the Parliament is espoused only by those who are diehard PPP or PNC followers. Any independent-minded, objective patriot would admit that over the last 50 years, the one-party rule in Guyana has been the single most detrimental thing to our development. Additionally, the amendments needed to the Constitution would only be had if a third party forces it. Neither of the major parties will institute any change to the constitution that would limit their powers. It will take a third party in the Parliament to introduce a bill that would limit the Presidential powers and change the electoral constructs which obtain in the current Constitution.
Pastor Wendell Jeffrey

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