Dear Editor,
In a sound democracy there must be a loyal opposition, whose role is to ensure that the ruling party adheres to the set of laws and policies that provide justice, security and opportunity for all people. Many would say that in Guyana’s democracy that role is sadly absent and that it is time for a change. The emergence of Richard Van-West Charles as a potential leader of the PNC provides a way forward and an opportunity to examine the role of the PNC and its viability as a political party for the better future of Guyana.
A number of people will try to linger on past failings of the PNC. I would draw this parallel. A review of the Democratic Party of the United States tells an interesting story, one which many might be surprised to learn. After the American Civil War, the ranks of the fledgling Ku Klux Klan were comprised almost entirely of white Democrats angry over poor treatment by northerners, both perceived and actual. As years passed and memories waned, African Americans began shifting to the Democratic Party, and Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal programmes which gave economic relief to all minorities, including African Ameri-cans and Hispanics. This same Democra-tic Party – formerly the home of racists and separatists – along with the people of America has now elected the first African American President of America. What a distance the Democratic Party has travelled; and what a lesson we can learn.
We cannot and should not focus solely on the past, and the actions of those who are absent; the context and the times have changed, these are new times for new people with new vision and the experience and will to move forward.
I urge you not to dismiss Mr. Van-West Charles simply because of his father-in-law, Forbes Burnham or because of what you have been told by the naysayers and pessimists stuck on a one-way road in the past. Rather look to what our cousins in the north did for nominee Barack Obama; listen to credible sources, read, seek real information not innuendo, gossip or speculation, then make your decision. If the populace had not done due diligence and had simply listened to the naysayers, America and indeed the world would be very different; the alternative is surely hard for all of us to contemplate.
Yours faithfully,
Ian G Hall
