Euthanasia performed on the AFC is the only good thing that came out of LGE

Nov 20, 2018 Letters

EDITOR,
Now that the dust has literally settled on LGE, the results reaffirm the point I made in my missive on Election Day, “Poor turn out on Monday should inspire the LGE commissioners back to the drawing boards.”
GECOM took an eternity to release the results after promising to do so in a day. Given the number of seats allotted to each locality as a known, GECOM’s delay is mathematically inexcusable, a reflection of gross incompetence.
Voter turnout is listed at 208,534, which amounts to 36% of the electorate. I can envision Minister Bulkan ingesting his ranting of “baseless and myopic assertions,” thrown at me days before LGE.
An overwhelming majority of the Guyanese voting population had expressed their lack of appreciation for LGE in its current disposition by abstaining from voting. Will the Minister do the patriotically correct thing by asking the commissioners to go back to the drawing boards and take the names of political parties off future LGE ballots? I hope he does!
A sum of $1.2 billion was budgeted for the LGE. GECOM CEO, Lowenfield said. “What I know is we haven’t overspent.”
I would have liked to share $1.2 billion among 80 LAA areas. Every one of them would have gotten 15 million dollars—not that I am against LGE. In its present configuration, with the political parties on the ballot, LGE is a waste of time and money. The people have spoken; 64% of the population showed their dissent for the present system.
These elections, touted to empower the people at the grassroots to look after their own affairs, were just a sham. This fact is resonated in Jagdeo’s words, “This is a massive victory for the PPP” at his press conference at Freedom House.
How does his statement coincide with democracy at the grassroots?
Jagdeo summed it up by explaining his party’s inability to infiltrate traditional PNC/ APNU areas by echoing the people’s sentiment. “We are not voting for you, (PPP) but we are not voting for them (APNU) either”
It shows that the people understand exactly what the LGE in its present configuration is all about. The LGE commissioners crafted it for the two elephants (PPP and APNU) to stampede on the grass (people) to find out who is heavier (having more support). It is not about people’s empowerment as they would have us believe.
Notice, I did not mention the AFC. The AFC has been archived permanently by the people for their perceived betrayal. The reality check that the AFC received is the only good thing that came out of the LGE. The pretense the AFC leaders were living in is over. They should have known that their supporters are proactive people and they were ready to perform euthanasia on the AFC long before LGE The AFC leaders can start saddling their horses to ride off into the sunset come 2020.
Who knows? It could be sooner, should conscience betray one of them to flip in the no confidence motion. Seems we are destined to live with the lesser of two evils.
Rudolph Singh

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