A BROKEN PARTY

Sep 14, 2017 Editorial, Features / Columnists

History has shown that the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has descended into an abyss of a mere vote-getting machine based on race politics bent on dividing the country. But some of its members believe that the PPP is a brand. Broadly, and properly understood, a brand is what distinguishes a product, service or concept from any other. Branding has become a buzzword and so it has become very fashionable to use it for every conceivable idea, even if that idea is a mere figment of one’s imagination. So only fools would believe that the PPP is a brand.
It is not far-fetched to believe that if the leaders of the PPP are asked to define the party brand, there would be different answers that may not even have any bearing on each other. The PPP is distinctive from other political parties in Guyana because it is corrupt and crooked. It does not have a vision and the challenge its members face today is new leadership. The party is at a critical crossroad, it is a broken party, and its members are asking serious questions about its future, its leadership and what role it can exercise in the future governance of the country.
The PPP has departed from the values and morals of its founding father. Its supporters have grown wary of its current leader’s inability to steer the party in the right direction by finding solutions to some of the problems facing the country. The party is in a very tight spot. It does not have a unifying theme that defines what it stands for. Its founding father had great moral clarity about the vision and mission of the party and the philosophical underpinnings that were necessary to make them work. He had a set of organizing principles around which he rallied support for the party and by extension the country. He enunciated a vision of an egalitarian and just society that many people bought into.
Under its present leader, the PPP has drifted from its founding philosophical principles that had made it an enviable political force in the country to a mere vote-getting machine. It is no longer a vibrant political party and has no centralized message. Although they will not speak publicly about it, many of its supporters have never really trusted their present leader or have truly respected his intellect, but would not speak publicly about it. They wanted an infusion of transformative and visionary leadership but this will not happen with its current leader at the helm. Clearly, the majority of the electorate had rejected the PPP in the last election because of corruption, inept policies and poor leadership.
Its leader needs to deal with the still simmering discontent within its senior ranks since losing the last election. But he is sounding more like a man whose greatest obsession is with himself. His obsession and those who are eagerly waiting in the wings to replace the government is only getting the party more deeply ensnared in a thick jungle from which it may not be able to get out. What is critically needed at this juncture in the party is leaders who are honest, sincere, un-corrupt and will put the interest of the people and the country first. While in office, the PPP has become corrupted to the point where governance and policy making were influenced by partisan politics and not by the greater good of the society as a whole.
It would definitely help if its leaders could take a deep look at themselves, summon up the honesty and moral courage to admit that they were corrupted, arrogant and contemptuous of the people and that they should begin the task of redefining their vision within the context of the new paradigms of the dynamic political landscape that Guyana is fast becoming. However, a party that lacks vision is hopeless and will surely perish. What its leaders are calling a brand is a broken party that can no longer hold water?

1 thoughts on “A BROKEN PARTY”

Dr Nat Khublall September 14, 2017 at 3:16 am

This is indeed a far-reaching editorial attacking the PPP in all directions. These include lack of a vision, it is “corrupt and crooked”, only interested in “vote-getting”, and a lack of “a vision and the challenge its members face today”. With regard to corruption, no political party can claim to be free of corruption. However, so far those in control of the government have not yet produced any evidence of any major corruption by the PPP to enable criminal prosecution against the culprits within the PPP responsible for the corruption. Prosecuting for corruption was made a campaign promise before the 2015 elections by the then opposition now in power but yet nothing has materialised. Instead, some corruption would appear to have been committed by ministers of the present regime within two years since this regime was catapulted into the reins of power.
I agree that the PPP should take stock of itself with a view to improvement and changes within so that, if it is elected in the future, it can govern better for all Guyanese throughout the country. It is noted that, despite the corruption the PPP was accused of, there was some economic progress in the country. However, since 2015 there has been a downward trend in the gross development product. Those in power are mainly novices without a clue how to grow the economy. In this regard, I made comments criticising every budget since 2015. There was nothing in it for the growth of the economy. Too much reliance should not be given to an unknown future oil revenue.There are lessons to be learnt from a few third world oil producing countries. Action should be taken now as to what can be done to grow the economy free from partisan politics and corruption.