The 12 must revive, reconcile, restore

Sep 17, 2025 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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Kaieteur News – There was the Jive Five.  Hollywood presented the Magnificent Seven.  Today, in Guyana, there’re the 12 newly arrived.  What kind of 12 will these men and women of the PNC, of Guyana, be?  It’s the puzzle that intrigues, the one they must solve.  From new leader to greenest parliamentary newcomer. They have to learn on the run. Swim or sink. The PPP is watching. So is WIN. Me, too.

Supporters of the former main opposition voted four ways on 9/1.  For WIN mostly, a few for the PPP, some for the PNC.  Or not at all.  This is how low the PNC sank; how lackluster its appeal was then.  Yesterday can’t be recalled, but today is here.  And this is the challenge for members of the new PNC parliamentary team.  There is the now.  What will they tell the people now?  How will they represent the people in parliament now and for the next five years, and not just their own?  How will they revive their base first, then reconcile it to their visions, and restore some pride in it?  How, how, how?  Are they up to it?

There is no sense in comparisons to the past.  The demands of the times, their people, Guyanese, are in front of them.  Dr. Terrence Campbell has been a successful businessman, by any measurement.  I understand that he is a man of faith and prayers.  Both will be needed in ample supply.  There is too much godlessness in this country.  I correct myself: there is one god, and his name is money.  Any kind that comes to hand.  The PNC can bewail who bought votes, and who sold themselves.  It should look inwards first, for it didn’t even sell itself.  Others, including its own, were crossing up its lines.  Yet, in a game of numbers, the PNC dawdled in taking the first steps towards snaring a few crossovers for itself.

What does Dr. Campbell have in mind on that reality?  For, in addition to the opposition’s support base that eroded and crumbled, the PPP base also had its share of the disgruntled and disillusioned.  All those streams of money, all the purple headlines, and yet, and yet, the season was harder than guava, and even that couldn’t be had.  Yes, it was that bad.  Thus, close to half of the electorate sat on its hands, and voted with their feet.  Meaning, no stirring, no moving, no getting up and going out on Monday, September 1, 2025.  The world of possibilities stood before Guyanese and they didn’t believe, didn’t trust, didn’t care.

What does that say?  What science and anguish are buried somewhere in there?  Those answers are beyond my range of insights.  But, this much I know: in one of the richest countries in the world, too many Guyanese were at their unhappiest.  It is fertile territory for all the political parties that just contested the elections.  I repeat: all the parties have some work to do to interest and inspire apathetic and discontented citizens.  For its part, the PNC starts out in a hole, with its back to the wall, and the odds not looking favourable.  The PNC, therefore, has to outthink, outflank, and outwork, the other parties combined.  Clearly, it is facing a rebuilding stage in its existence, given how far it has fallen.  The party must reimagine itself.

Sometimes a man has got to fall flat, to know how low he has sunk.  And the choices that stare him in the face.  He has two options.  Stay where he is.  Or, through an abiding self-respect, he digs deep, eats humble pie, and starts over on that long journey back to the estate of standing.  The parable of the prodigal son should resonate with Guyanese of all stripes, which I hope that I didn’t make too complex or mysterious.  If no one else in Guyana understands the magnitude of what I left on the table, there is every confidence that Terrence Campbell does.

Guyanese are seeking inspiration.  The 12 had better live that cliché that isn’t a cliché in their case.  The perspiration must flow.  WIN’s Mohamed came out of nowhere and galvanized a slew of voters to believe in him.  It shouldn’t be so farfetched to think that that could be extended to Dr. Campbell and his team.  They do the hard work; they stand a chance to reap some rewards.  They persuade the Guyanese voter of their honesty, reliability, and that they are trustworthy, and they can revive the fortunes of the PNC.  The vision is to be reconciled to Guyanese, beginning with their base.  Restore some degree of confidence that they are real, and what is good for every Guyanese.  Game on.  Campbell must lead, learn to leap high.  The 12 must come alive, drive forward, thrive.

(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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• GHK Lall, hard truths, PNC, PPP, win

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