You cannot benefit from election then reject it when you lose

Oct 20, 2020 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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Kaieteur News – Four prominent persons in leadership position from different African cultural and African political organizations asserted that the 2020 election was a sociological waste of time because it obfuscated the dire ethnic drama that has been playing out in Guyana for most of the 19th century and all of the 21st century.
From ACDA there is Eric Phillips. He rejected the position on the Guyana elections by Professor Hilary Beckles, UWI Vice Chancellor. Philips wrote in condemnation of Beckles the following, “… the situation in Guyana is comprehensively misunderstood even by scholars in the Region as winner-take-all politics will never work in Guyana …I have called for shared governance more than anyone in Guyana over the last 10 years.”
There is Vincent Alexander from International Year of the People of African Descent – Guyana (IDPADA-G). It is well known that as chairman of IDPADA-G, Alexander wrote CARICOM and the UN to argue that Guyana’s exigent problems are only exacerbated by periodic elections therefore these problems need prioritizing rather than the election results.
The third one is David Hinds, leader of Society for Empowerment of African People. There is no need to even offer a brief quote on his position. He spelt it out graphically for five months even exclaiming that Guyana must scrap the election and birth an interim government. The fourth person is Simona Broomes from the PNC. She shouted in a protest outside the home of the social media personality, “Guyanese Critic” that there must not be a declaration but GECOM must bring the PNC and PPP at the table for a settlement.
Phillips in his letter to the newspapers reacted to Professor Beckles’s acceptance of the PPP’s victory by saying that Beckles had been misled. Alexander said CARICOM and the UN did not reply. Why CARICOM did not respond and why Beckles took the position he did.
Here in Guyana were four prominent Guyanese belonging to organizations that participated in elections, won elections, held crucial policy-making positions in government but when they lost an election suddenly competitive election is irrelevant. Only contempt can visit such a position and though we will never know why CARICOM and the UN did not engage IDPADA-G, we can speculate that contempt could be one of the reasons.
If Alexander believes election is an institution that is antithetical to social and ethnic stability in this country why was he involved in administering national elections – central and local- for fifteen years? During this time, did it ever dawn on Alexander that he was a leading administrator in a flawed institution – periodic election- that Guyana needs to revamp? Is it safe to say that Alexander shouted “eureka, election kyaan wuk” when he found out his party lost the 2020 poll?
David Hinds’s party, the WPA, was one of the organizations that won the elections twice – 2011 and 2015 and was a candidate in all three elections including 2020. For five years, the WPA was in government that came to power through an election. The researcher cannot find one sentence from Hinds from 2015 in which he advised his party to leave government because elections bring into being governments that end up dividing the nation. Hinds discovered the absurdity of competitive elections after his party lost in 2020.
Phillips took a high-level job with the government of Guyana. From 2015, onwards, there wasn’t any word from Phillips that he should exit his employment because the government he worked for came to power through a process that divides the nation and perpetuates winner-take-all mentality. Phillips is asking for power-sharing in 2020 but didn’t resign from government and fight for it. He wants it known because the PNC lost the election in 2020.
Finally, Broomes sees power sharing as the solution. In the picket line, she urged the GECOM chairperson not to declare any results and shouted some wise words. She informed the persons filming her that Guyanese fought and died for togetherness and now GECOM is seeking to divide Guyanese through an election result. She said it is not right that Guyanese must feel that when the PNC and PPP are in power, one side loses and one side wins.
But poor Broomes never uttered a single word when she was a Minister, like those she shouted vociferously outside the home of Guyanese Critic. In fact, Broomes was a divisive figure. She filmed a derogatory video mocking opposition leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, with the constant repetition of “Boom out, Jagdeo.” I wonder if when Broomes was doing that, she remembered that Jagdeo was East Indian and head of an Indian party. Well, my girl, Simona, your party lost the election. Time to boom out!

(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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