Dear Editor,

In reference to the two letters  by Mr Desmond Trotman, I would like to thank him and the WPA for clarifying the sequence of events leading to the break-up of the Guyana Third Force (GTF) in 2005 (‘The collapse of te Guyana Third Force was a consequence of intrigue…’ SN, May 6; ‘The WPA has not accused Raphael Trotman of anything’ SN, May 23). Mr Desmond Trotman’s basic, bottom line emphasis is that Messrs Hardy, Franklin and Dev were political “con” men who claimed that Mr Rapahael Trotman of the AFC told them that there was a conspiracy between the PNC and the rest of us, so they broke up the GTF. His statements of what occurred are solid, to the point and exactly correct, as is his basic expectation that Mr Raphael Trotman should denounce, even after four years, Messrs Hardy, Franklin and Dev for  using his good name to break up the GTF. Since Mr Trotman of the AFC in an article in SN, had denied any involvement in the GTF demise, then he should be quick to denounce Hardy et al for their dishonourable conduct.

Mr Hardy definitely was out to break up our alliance because he was never interested in Guyana and his actions proved that point; since that time his Guyana Action Party is dead or dying and he’s missing in (non) action. Whatever support Mr Hardy had has now evaporated, and he’s a serious contender for the dustbin of Guyanese history. Mr Ravi Dev was deeply involved in the demise of the GTF and his role in relation to Hardy has been exposed clearly by Bro Desmond. Since his devious, waste-of-time talk in 2005, all he does is write sheer nonsense every week in the KN  – always stuck on racial overtones. He is a failure in Guyanese politics and another candidate for the historical dustbin. Mr Franklin is just a mirror of Messrs Hardy and Dev and his outpourings in Parliament are nothing to pay attention to. So, Editor, Bro Desmond is correct; we were dealing with political con artists who ‘used’ the alleged “words” of Mr Raphael Trotman to destroy the GTF.

But Editor, what about the questions which would still stay in anyone’s mind who was involved in trying diligently to attain a political coalition of the kind we were seeking? Bro Desmond alluded to the fact (in his original letter) that the WPA refused to meet Trotman and Ramjattan as long as they held onto seats from the PNC and PPP respectively, and I must remind him that these are the same people who did not want to involve the WPA in the Guyana Third Force. I remember that I was the most vocal in resisting that nonsense and the WPA was included. Isn’t it strange that Messrs Trotman and Ramjattan would hold on to parliamentary seats when all of the other entities of the blossoming Third Force were against that? For the sake of a united front and the future of this country wouldn’t they have preferred unity and probable seats for a united GTF instead of holding immoral ground? When I left the PPP in 1998, I immediately gave back my parliamentary seat to Freedom House.

I felt then as I do now, that it was the moral and honourable thing to do. Then there was the time when Mr Raphael Trotman per-sonally asked me to support a ticket with Hardy as President and himself as PM and which I (and others) disregarded as that question had not been discussed at GTF meetings. And then there’s the undeniable point that in the Third Force discussions of future plans, Messrs Trotman, Ramjattan and Hardy were always together against any provision for a ‘Big Tent.’ As a matter of fact Hardy almost always sided with Trotman/ Ramjattan positions. Today, the AFC’s position is against a Big Tent of opposition forces because, as I said before and will say again, the AFC was never interested in a broad unity and an honest approach to political discourse unless it pointed in their direction. Since the break-up of the GTF, the AFC has accomplished nothing of substance for the Guyanese people, especially in Parliament where the numbers game leaves them in no better position than Mr Franklin, except that their outpourings again, produce nothing much to pay attention to. In 2005, the AFC was not in any way working to unite the opposition, but instead, got carried away after their launching, declaring Raphael Trotman their presidential candidate, a sure sign of working against a broad unity, especially since that question had not been decided on. The 2006 inaccurate poll by the American, Dick Morris, gave them almost 25% of the Guyanese vote; this went down to 8.4% on election day. The fact that Peter Ramsaroop joined the AFC after he was so outraged at them in 2005, says a lot about his political convictions and shows him up as a political ‘grasshopper’ jumping from the PNC to his own party , then to the GTF, then to his presidential quest which was abandoned as he joined the AFC. I wonder where he’ll go next?

Editor, it would have been more productive and better for the citizens if to contest the elections in 2006 there had been a GTF, even alone and not in a Big Tent, with all aboard, including the AFC, with a presidential candidate select-ed after serious interchanges with the citizens and in a really democratic way. Who knows what would have happened?  I assure you, however, that the public would have benefited greatly and more than six seats (the AFC/Franklin) would have been garnered. Who knows if the balance of power would have shifted to the GTF coalition and a real change could have occurred? Look at Trinidad where (Big Tent) coalition politics is working; it is the only way to break the stalemate of politics as usual with the same old, same old.

I must close by stating that in my dealings with the GTF in 2005, I found that the only group which stuck to principles which focused on the welfare of the Guyanese citizens, was the WPA.

Again, I would like to thank Bro Desmond Trotman for coming to my support and I understand his position in giving Mr Raphael Trotman some leeway in order to leave the door open for the future. However, I want to impress upon him my position, in that I blame the ultimate break-up of the GTF squarely on the shoulders of Mr Raphael Trotman and the AFC; ambition has no place when it comes to the serious business of improving the lot of our citizens.

Yours faithfully,
Cheddi (Joey) Jagan (Jr)