The desecration of an important anniversary

Aug 03, 2022 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – The APNU+AFC decided that it would hold a rally on the 2^nd anniversary of the PPP/C government in power. But it was not joining in celebrating the PPP/C government’s return to office but was protecting the cost of living, corruption and extra judicial killing.

That killing is purportedly that of a young man from Golden Grove who was fatally killed following an incident with the police. As much as there is bound to be public consternation over an extra judicial killing, the APNU+AFC will  eventually discover, as it did following the death of the infamous Blackie London, that there is a reluctance by many Guyanese to protest the death of  an alleged gunrunner.

The choice of August 2, 2022 for the rally is believed to have been intended to deflect from the shameless and disgraceful attempt which was made to rig the 2022 elections. It is still mind-boggling that the APNU+AFC could have believed that in this day and age, it could have escaped sanction for its actions after the General and Regional Elections of 2^nd March, 2022.

The APNU+AFC disgraced and shamed itself in the eyes of the public. It discredited itself and its supporters by attempting to claim that the elections were fraudulent, a lie which was condemned by the international community including the Caribbean Community.

One head of an observer mission was forced to tell the Organization of American States – which comprises of 34 countries – that he had never seen a more transparent attempt to alter the results on an elections. Guyana was shamed in front of the representatives of all those countries.

One regional Prime Minister came out with a stinging rebuke. He urged “you-know-who” to “stand up and take your licks like a man.”

Another regional Prime Minister spoke out against the gamesmanship which was taking place and which she said did not portray the Caribbean in the best light. She also expressed concern, on behalf of the Caribbean Community over the attempt to foist a result, which did not reflect the results of the Recount.

After there was a local pushback against her comments, she made it clear that the Caribbean had to stand on principles. She said that the truth hurts. It does not take a crystal ball to realise to whom those comments were directed.

The United States of America imposed travel sanctions on persons connected with the attempt to pervert the democratic will of the people. This was the first time that the United States had travel sanctions imposed in relation to elections.

The European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada also hinted at the possibility of taking action against those complicit in undermining democracy in Guyana. A number of organisations and top-tier individuals came out in support of respect for the will of the people.

Immediately after the then US Secretary of State announced travel sanctions, overseas-based Guyanese urged their relatives in Guyana not to become embroiled in any attempt which could be construed as supporting rigged elections since they could be sanctioned for supporting this attempt.

After keeping the country in limbo for five months, the APNU+AFC has some nerve to be using the anniversary of the swearing in of the democratically-elected PPP/C government to hold a rally. The attempt by the APNU+AFC to return Guyana to a pariah state will not be forgotten so easily.

No rally hosted by the APNU+AFC will erase the infamy of its five-month long stranglehold on the country. For five months, and during the pandemic at that, the country was in state of limbo. The APNU+AFC was busy concocting fantasies when it should have been mobilising support to help address the pandemic and to support Guyanese who are not able to earn during that period.

The APNU+AFC has showed just how much regard it had for the Constitution when it refused to resign after the passage of a no-confidence vote. And it showed just how much regard it had for the intelligence of the Guyanese people when it tried to claim that 33 was not a majority of 65.

The APNU+AFC has no credibility to be speaking about the cost of living. It was not concerned about the pressures faced by Guyanese when it imposed all those taxes on citizens and locked the country down for five long months while it attempted to benefit from rigged elections.

The APNU+AFC has no standing to speak about corruption. Not after what has been exposed about the actions of individuals during the tenure of the Coalition.

The APNU+AFC cannot be trusted. That the Coalition believed in this day and age, it could get away with attempting to benefit from rigged elections, flies in the face of democratic norms. The international community and the Caribbean Community would never have tolerated that. However, the APNU+AFC believed that it could spin any tale and get away with it. It was wrong then and it is wrong now. The APNU+AFC belongs in the past. It should stay there.

(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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