David Granger: Enigmatic or nonsensical?

Aug 21, 2020 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

I have chalked up over 50 years in left-wing or working class activism. My understanding of Guyanese politics was made easier because I was educated right up to the doctoral level. And I say in all honesty, I have never seen a leader whose actions and words are so permeated with contradictions, irrationalities and meaningless sentences as David Granger.
It is hard for the analyst to make sense of what he did as president and what he is currently doing. What follows are few samples from the confused songbook of a man who lost the general elections of a country that even with the global pandemic is set to have a vast economy in per capita terms.
I am not going to return to his presidential days in which so many confusions surrounded his five-year tenure. The point is no president or leader of the two major political parties – PPP and PNC – have consistently contradicted themselves the way Granger has.
The latest is his sanction as Leader of the List of the 31 persons who will go to parliament. His choices would make sense if he never spoke about his criteria. But they make no sense given his criteria, and they are even more bizarre when you consider how he has asserted himself as a power holder in the past five years.
We start with examples of that assertion. He told the AFC he will not permit a 60/40 formula in the sharing of power whether in victory or defeat. The AFC accepted 30 percent. He told the AFC that he will no longer accept a neutral person as Leader of the List as APNU+AFC did in 2015 with professor, Harold Lutchman. Granger became Leader of the List.
He insisted that if he retains the presidency, it is his constitutional right to choose his prime minister thus rejecting the AFC’s nomination.
APNU+AFC lost the election, and Granger was still in assertive mode. As Leader of the List, he promulgated his criteria for parliament. He cited gender, demography, youth and most of all, insisted that a party should be able to garner 7000 votes to have a representative going to parliament.
We have seen the APNU+AFC list and it is a continuation of either an enigmatic mind or a nonsensical politician. Granger accepted nine nominees from the AFC that met not one of his criteria. In fact, Granger has accepted the AFC’s violation of the constitution in which their quota does not include 30 percent of women.
There is only one formation that Granger heads. It is named APNU+AFC. It means that he has to determine the shape of the group that will be going to parliament. If he rejected the AFC’s 40 percent demand in the acquisition of power and its nomination of Ramjattan as PM candidate, why is he accepting the AFC’s ignoring of his laid down requirements? Five of the nine assignments from the AFC are Georgetowners, and six of those nine are from Region 4.
His violation of his own requirement of 7000 votes for a seat makes Granger looks extremely foolish in the eyes of the world. Nine seats for the AFC would mean in Granger’s dictionary, 63,000 ballots. Is Granger losing his marbles? In the 2020 election, is Granger telling us that the AFC got 63,000 votes? Even if there was an agreement before the election to give AFC nine seats, no agreement is sealed in concrete but is determined by changing circumstances. If John agrees by a legal document to pay Harry $50, 000 for damaging his car, how can Harry and the court expect John to meet that obligation if a fire destroys John’s home?
Granger has assigned a seat to the WPA. Really, is Granger enigmatic or just losing it? The WPA does not have 70 members, muchless 700, and it was virtually impossible in March for 7000 Guyanese to have put their X on the ballot paper for the WPA. I say in all honesty that I believe more persons in the entire land of Guyana would more give a vote to CN Sharma’s party than the WPA for obvious reason – CN Sharma runs a popular television programme and is always in the eyes of Guyanese.
Finally, Joe Harmon, who was not in the PNC and was incorporated into the party last Sunday, will be the official Leader of the Opposition. While naming him as such, Granger said his list is one for the future. Surely, Joe Harmon is not one for the future. Granger is a funny fellow.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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