Dear Editor,
The headline news in our morning newspaper, SN of Tuesday, March 30, 2010, that “Corbin not up for presidential race” was greeted like a breath of fresh air by many Guyanese. This is the kind of news most Guyanese were waiting to hear for a long time. Then came Mr Vincent Alexander’s statement with which I totally agree, in that a lot of scepticism abounds about the announcement.
Mr Corbin wants to have his cake and eat it too. He cannot have it both ways. He cannot indicate that he intends not to run as the presidential candidate in the next general elections, but hold on to the leadership of the party. The party cannot run in two directions at the same time. Mr Corbin has to realize that while he has a large support base, he does not have the large numbers to give him victory in an election.
The People’s National Congress suffered its largest defeat under Mr Corbin. How much more humiliation does he want to put the party through? In short, he does not have the winning ticket.
The People’s National Congress is not the exclusive property of Mr Corbin. The People’s National Congress is not a ‘black people’ party. It is also a party in which a woman can be the presidential candidate.
Without hesitation Mr Winston Murray tops the list of candidates to be the PNC presidential candidate. I do not have to supply a list of his qualifications as they are well known to all of us. What is needed now is that the leadership be handed over to him immediately so that he can go around the country and have the people get to know him. I see a Winston Murray presidential candidate and a Robert Corbin prime ministerial candidate as a winning ticket with hard work and full support from the party.
Mr Corbin will bring the grass-roots members of Burnham and Hoyte, and Mr Murray will bring back all the frustrated who walked away. In other words, Mr Corbin will bring the cake to the party and Mr Murray will put the icing on the cake.
Mr Corbin can fade out of Guyana’s politics as a spoiler or remain and be a hero. Mr Corbin still has a big part to play in Guyana’s politics if he plays his cards the right way, and finally Mr Murray will bring in assistance from town and country which the party badly needs at this time to carry out a vigorous election campaign.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address provided)
