PNCR Leader Robert Corbin says his party remains committed to forming alliances with other political parties and he said the recent flurry of reportage in the state media about this subject was likely a sign that the PPP/C government was panicking over the prospects of an opposition coalition.
Addressing a news conference yesterday at Congress Place, Corbin said that he has repeatedly spoken about his party looking to join with other political parties to contest elections. He said that the PNCR remains committed to this process and expressed surprise at the sudden national attention being paid to a possible coalition with other parties.
“The only assumption that I could arrive at for this sudden anxiety is that the regime probably feels threatened from what has been happening in fellow Caricom countries… that such an alliance, if it indeed materializes, will see the end of the PPP in office,” Corbin said. “I do believe so, but as to whether we achieve that will depend upon the will of the political parties in this country,” he added.
Asked if his party has intensified talks regarding possible coalitions with other parties within recent weeks, Corbin responded in the negative. He also said that his party had not been invited to a meeting with the AFC and the Barbadian political strategist Hartley Henry which occurred at the Pegasus Hotel earlier this week. Former PNCR Chairman Winston Murray was reportedly in attendance at that meeting. Corbin, however, expressed concern that that State media seemed to be aware of the whereabouts of political activists before hand.
“It is troubling that the State media will have information of the movements of political activists in this country. It is dangerous. It is not a light matter,” an agitated Corbin declared.
“I don’t know that the PNC ever announced it ever had a meeting. I don’t know that the AFC ever publicized that there was a meeting. And I don’t know that it is against the constitution or the law of Guyana for any citizen of this country to go to the Pegasus and talk to anybody. So what is so special about it,” he added.
According to him “NCN cameras were suddenly there to film this spectacle.” “So I wonder whether it is the intelligence forces, tapped phone lines or what transpired that the information about meetings of political parties could be in the possession of the State media before the people even involved know about it,” Corbin said.
Meanwhile, asked if he had met with Henry, Corbin said he had been invited to a meeting with him. “I met Mr. Hartley Henry because Mr. Hartley Henry sent a message to me to have discussions.” Henry, the PNCR Leader said, was previously contracted by the party as a consultant several years ago and consequently was no stranger to either him or the party.
While reluctant to disclose what was discussed at the meeting, Corbin pointed out that Henry was involved in the recent elections held in Trinidad and Tobago. “I was happy to speak with him to learn of some of the experiences from Trinidad and Tobago,” Corbin said. Corbin pointed out that he was free to have such meetings and that they could never be described as “secret meetings.”
Corbin said that the PPP/C’s commitment to CARICOM, Caribbean Integration and the free movement of skills ought to be questioned given the way the State media has attacked Henry. Stating that it is “abhorrent that the State media is being misused to damage and sully the character of Guyanese, he opined that it is worse “to witness the State Media launching unprovoked attacks on a Caribbean citizen in the name of Mr. Hartley Henry.”
According to Corbin the PPP/C government appeared to be in a mood of “panic reaction”, which he suggested could be as a result of the outcome of elections in Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago where collaboration of opposition forces led to regime changes. “The PPP/C fears are therefore, well founded as they can already visualize the horror of the end of their dictatorial regime. Perhaps it is time for the Opposition parties to make the PPP/C fears not only a nightmare, but a reality,” he said.
