Delusion can lead to illusion

Nov 01, 2021 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – The only delusion within the PNC/R has to do with those who continue to peddle the narrative that there were gross irregularities in the 2020 elections and it was these irregularities which gave the PPP/C victory. Those who push this line of argument are attempting to deflect attention from the shameless attempt to install the APNU+AFC Coalition into government through fraudulent means.
Shame is a terrible burden to fetch. And this narrative about irregularities is being spun to justify the action of those who either supported or were salient in the face of the attempted rigging.
But there is another narrative which is being weaved and it relates to the power struggle within the PNC/R. The various competing camps within the party have to find a basis to demand a change in leadership. Each faction has to find ways to attract support delegates.
One of the bases for demanding a change in leadership and for attracting support is to claim that the party has lost grassroots support. Grassroots refers to rank and file supporters who may or may not be card-bearing members.
But if there is validity to the narrative that the party has lost touch with its grass roots supporters, how can the party still explain that the Coalition won 47.34 percent of the votes and the incumbent PPP/C merely holds a one-seat majority.
This theory about the loss of grassroots support discredits absolutely the narrative about the PPP/C assuming office through fraudulent means. And if there was a disconnection between the PNC/R party and its grassroots supporters how did the Coalition manage to secure 236,928 votes, its highest electoral tally ever?
The fact of the matter is, none of those persons who are competing for leadership of the party have come out and conceded that the PPP/C won the elections fairly and squarely.
The PNC/R is in a maze of its own confusion. It continues with the delusion that it was cheated out of office. But it is also pretending that one of the reasons for its loss of support is the loss of contact with the grassroots.
This claim about loss of grassroots support may have been aimed at the leadership of David Granger. There is a perception which has been created that somehow Granger was aloof and is not a down-to-earth person.
However, the only persons who are living in a delusion are those who have failed to accept their partys narrow defeat at the hands of the PPP/C. And until they come to terms with this reality, they will not only be fooling themselves but also their supporters.
Ambitions began to flourish within the PNC/R after David Granger got sick while being President. At the last Congress of the party, there was the jockeying and contesting to be next in line for leadership. That Congress seemed to be dominated more by the power struggle to succeed Granger than by addressing the hammering which the party had taken in the previous local government elections and the growing disaffection with the party and with the AFC.
It now appears that David Granger has resigned himself to not contesting for the leadership of the party. But he did warn on this years death anniversary of Forbes Burnham about the threat of factionalism.
Normally in parties which practice internal democracy and which are committed to democratic competition for political power, such factionalism tends to be healthy rather than dysfunctional. But in the case of the PNC/R the factions are not differentiated by differences in policies, approaches or ideology. All the factions are cut from the same cloth.
What unites these factions is the struggle for personal power. What is taking place within the PNC/R is a power struggle. And unfortunately, given the undemocratic nature of the party, this power struggle will not address the fundamental defects of the party or lead to a process in which the party can be truthful to itself about its election loss.
One of the pitfalls of the partys refusal to accept its defeat will be its inability to undertake the sort of analysis which will be needed. So long as the party continues to be deluded by the narrative that the PPP/C rigged the elections, it will not be able to make a proper assessment as to why it lost the elections, which should be the ultimate objective of the forthcoming Congress.
What the PNC/R needs is a grassroots analysis of its time in office. And that analysis will reveal that many of its grassroots supporters became disgruntled because they saw friends and cronies benefiting while their children were locked out of jobs and they were saddled with high levels of taxation.
They voted for change and what they got is an exchange.  And that is no illusion!
(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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