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WPA saved the PNC in 2011; the AFC gave the PNC power in 2015

Jul 02, 2017 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

The most complex and incomprehensible of all West Indian societies is Guyana. It is simply difficult to fathom the deep chasms that underlie its politics. Politics in Guyana is simply not easy to comprehend, whereas in other CARICOM states, political narratives are very banal.
Last week, I was eating alfresco style with Dr. David Hinds, at Hot and Spicy Restaurant on Albert Street, when a car pulled up. A young, African man, with the looks of a white collar worker, came out of his car and approached David. He said; “Dr. Hinds, I like what the WPA did; keep the pressure on the PNC, the WPA must be itself.” He was referring to the little imbroglio between the WPA and the Government over the handling of Dr. Roopnaraine’s ministerial transfer. When he left, immediately, David said, “Freddie, you see what I always tell you, there are Black people that see the WPA for something”.
Right at the top of the PNC’s hierarchy, there are condescending views on the value of the WPA in politics, and the role of the AFC in the 2015 elections. It may be correct to say that such views not only permeate the upper tier of the PNC leadership, but also at the secondary level. I know for a fact, that many PNC leaders think that the WPA is a shell, and that the AFC got more than what it brought to the table.
A profound, soul-searching analysis of Guyanese politics would reveal that if it wasn’t for the WPA in 2011, the PNC may not have survived electorally with any substance thereafter. And if it wasn’t for the AFC teaming up with APNU in 2015, the PNC would not have been in power today.
The problem with the PNC leadership, from Granger right down, is that they do not understand symbolism in politics, and the role it plays in the voter’s psyche. In 2006, the PNC appeared to the nation as jaded and faded. Robert Corbin’s leadership was sung out and rung out. The PNC’s showing in the 2006 elections was a historic disaster. It lost substantial votes in Georgetown and Linden. The PNC lost six seats.
When the WPA joined with the PNC in 2011 to form APNU, two things occurred. Those PNC constituencies that were resigned were galvanized again, because of the historic move by the WPA. For African Guyanese, the WPA’s courage was something that they felt needed to be nurtured. It was nurtured by a new embrace of the PNC through APNU.
Secondly, APNU’s formation necessitated new leadership to replace Corbin. Much to his credit, Corbin acknowledged that, and pushed very hard for APNU’s formation. When the PNC came to select a new leader, it was not a good prospect for vote-winning if the PNC was to go on its own in 2011. Carl Greenidge and Faith Harding were out the country for too long, and thus were not favoured names. Black people would not have voted for James Bond as their leader. David Granger was a political unknown. Whoever led the PNC on its own in the 2011 elections would have seen the PNC losing more than the six seats it lost in 2006. It was APNU, with the conspicuous, symbolic presence of the WPA, that resuscitated the electoral life of the PNC. Simply put; without the WPA, there would have been no APNU, without APNU, the PNC would have declined further.
PNC leaders flippantly dismiss the AFC as not bringing in the 12 percent APNU needed from it in 2015. The AFC didn’t do that, of course, but without the AFC joining with APNU in a huge show of historic symbolism, APNU would not have been in power. Substantial votes came to the coalition from people who voted not for the AFC or APNU, but for the coalition as a separate phenomenon. For them, this was a formula that they wanted to see in power. I suspect in Linden, if there wasn’t the coalition, APNU would have lost votes.
If there was a three-way race in 2015, the AFC would have taken seats from both the PPP and APNU. Both the PPP and PNC would have needed AFC support if one of them had won the plurality and acquired a minority presidency.
It is too simplistic an analysis for PNC leaders to dismiss the WPA as an electorally bare, small party. It is naïve thinking for PNC leaders to think that the coalition won because of APNU’s showing. The PNC got back seats in 2011 because of symbolism. The coalition won in 2015 because of symbolism.

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