YOU CANNOT PLEASE THE ELECTORATE

Jan 21, 2019 Features / Columnists, News, Peeping Tom

Whichever presidential candidate the PPPC had thrown up, was bound to have been found to be unfavorable by supporters of the APNU and the AFC. If Anil Nandlall had been chosen instead of Mohammed Irfaan Alli (MIA), the deluge of criticisms would been no less that at present.
The electorate is polarized. APNU and AFC supporters will find something unfavorable about the PPPC choice of a presidential candidate even as they admit that the PPPC has a right to determine how it will choose its candidate and who will be that candidate.
A chorus of criticisms which has greeted the announcement of MIA as the PPP’s Presidential candidate. The criticisms, as expected, has concentrated on his suitability for the presidency. The allegations surrounding his academic qualifications and the charges which he faces have been paraded as the principal reasons for his unsuitability.
But those making these criticisms have refused to acknowledge that the charges against him are politically motivated and do not indicate that he personally benefitted from the transactions for which he has been put in front of the courts.
The charges concern the sale of land below market value. Since every one of the more than 50,000 house lots distributed under the PPPC were sold under market value, it means that the charges against MIA criminalizes every one of those transactions. The High Court has temporarily stayed the proceedings, and would most likely have only done so because a prima facie case may have been made about the lack of validity of the charges.
The second set of allegations is more serious. They concern MIA’s academic qualifications. The grist of the allegations is that he did not hold a bona fide first degree before applying for a second degree and that the University from which he said he acquired his first degree, allegedly does not offer the programme which he said he did.
Much of the media reports on these matters are hearsay and involved poor investigate journalism. The media must verify from first hand sources some of the allegations being made. They must speak to the institutions and universities concerned to verify facts. Not rely on someone saying he called the university.
But it is equally the responsibility of MIA to be more forthcoming on this matter. The statements made both by MIA and his party’s General Secretary, will not dispel the allegations now in the public domain.
It would be unwise for MIA and the PPPC to go ahead with his candidacy if there is credible basis for a charge of academic misrepresentation. The PPPC will be courting electoral disaster if they go into the elections with these allegations being unresolved.
On the other hand, if Anil Nandlall had gained the nod, the present charges he faces about the law books, would have been thrown into the melee. In other words, dirt would have been found regardless of who was chosen.
If Gail Texeira was chosen, her foreign citizenship and age would have been seen as a problem. If Frank Anthony was chosen, he would have been criticized as not being vibrant or charismatic enough for leadership. If Vindya Persaud was chosen, criticisms would have centred around her political inexperience and charges of the threat of Hindu nationalism..
The PPPC has chosen a candidate. Persons, including supporters of the PPPC, are entitled to voice their opinion on that choice. But it is not the person that wins the election; it is the party and therefore greater concern should be about the polices the PPPC will pursue.
Many in the APNU and the AFC camps feel that by choosing MIA, the PPPC has chosen its weakest candidate. As such, the supporters of the APNU and AFC should call on their parties to take advantage of the situation, to have the challenge of the no-confidence motion withdrawn and to call elections immediately since it does seem as if the supporters of the coalition feel that they can easily defeat the PPPC with MIA as its Presidential candidate.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News