Kitty was a Tsunami of red

Jul 16, 2025 Letters

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Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News – The PPP launched its campaign at the Kitty Market Square, its traditional launching site, on Sunday, July 13th. It was always expected to be massive. But clearly, this was one of the largest ever election campaign launching events, if not the largest ever, in Guyana.

It was a tsunami of red. We heard the PNC-led APNU describing their approximately 1,200 strong launching on Sunday July 6th as a green wave. We heard the Mohameds describing their party’s gathering of about 300 paid supporters in Linden on Saturday July 12th as a blue wave. After witnessing the PPP’s Sunday launch, the green and blue waves look like little ripples in the water following the drop of a pebble.

Clearly, the size of the crowd at the PPP launch must have sent shivers in the leadership of the other parties. No matter how they try to downplay the success of the PPP’s launch, the opposition parties must have had their hopes obliterated and a deep sense of defeat must have taken a firm hold. The size of the rally on Sunday is, on one hand, an exhilarating feeling among the PPP leadership and in its support-base. On the other hand, the size of the red tsunami must be disconcerting to the opponents of the PPP.

But the size of the PPP rally is only part of the sinking, disconcerting feeling the opposition must be feeling. The diversity of the crowd must be even more frightening for the opposition. The ethnic make-up of the crowd signaled a significant shift away from race-based politics, with the PPP demonstrating that it is the only national party in Guyana. While all other opposition parties continue to rely on support from a single ethic group, the PPP continues to strengthen its national credentials. The Kitty Rally crowd confirmed the growing national flavor of the PPP. There were people of every ethnic and religious group gathered in Kitty.

The overwhelming number of youths in the crowd must be disheartening for the opposition. Clearly, the PPP has become the party of and for young people of all races and religion in Guyana. That the young people have gravitated to the PPP, regardless of their families’ traditional political affiliation, is an enormous milestone happening. It signals that the PPP is uniting the nation, bringing back Cheddi Jagan’s 1953 unity movement. The PPP today is breaking the albatross of race-based politics.

What is clear from the Kitty Rally is that the supporters of the party have a genuine respect and love for their leaders, especially President Irfaan Ali and VP Bharat Jagdeo. The PNC leader, Aubrey Norton, does not even command respect and love even among his own party’s supporters. Many have exited the PNC and joined the PPP. Mohamed from the “blue” party has no way to know how much people respect and love him since the chief motivation so far has been how much money they have been paid. Those who expect to be candidates have been promised things- money and positions. Many have actually signed agreements. Others were paid to be backers and many feel if they hold up flags and wear blue shirts they would earn more money. There is no way for Mohamed to know what really to expect for Elections 2025.

The PPP rally featured mostly new and young candidates. According to the PPP’s General Secretary, more than 25 of the PPP’s candidates for Elections 2025 are below 25 years old. Some of them were previously up-and-coming leaders of the PNC whose pathway were stifled and stagnated by the PNC’s lack of vision when they insist that young people must await their turn, while giving old leaders unlimited opportunities to fail. Others are young people who have been either never in politics or just became involved. Encouragingly, the new candidates of the PPP are not only young and successful, but they are of every ethnic group in the population.
The Kitty Rally for Elections 2025 was also notable for its energy. The energy was electrifying. It was celebratory. Undoubtedly, the energy was derived from the youthfulness of the crowd. While the crowd stretched almost the full length of Alexander Street and spilled into cross streets into Campbellville, the more remarkable feature was the thunderous energy that was maintained throughout the almost five-hours long rally.

The PPP’s Kitty Rally for Campaign 2025 sets a new bar for comparing rallies. It also was a demonstration that the PPP is bigger than ever and that it would be very difficult for the present opposition to separately or together defeat the PPP. Twenty-two political parties had submitted symbols to GECOM as notice for their participation. It was always never going to be 22 participants in the elections. After Sunday’s PPP rally, clearly some of them decided not to bother. Nominations Day will show us how many of them will be able to contest, even if they would never be able to be competitive.

Regards,

Dr. Leslie Ramsammy

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• Elections campaign, Kitty Market Square, PPP, tsunami

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