Dear Editor,
I write in connection with your article captioned, ‘Opposition admits voters ‘disenchanted,’ in the Sunday edition of your newspaper, dated August 15.
Mr Donald Ramotar, General Secretary of the PPP and prime candidate for the Jagdeo faction of his party, is just bluffing. Mr Ramotar lives in a world of his own and does not even know what goes on in his own party.
He is terrified at the new movement that is emerging in the country that will fundamentally change our country and society. Come the next general election, Guyana will not be the same again.
The Ramotar faction of the PPP and the Robert Corbin faction of the PNC are in shambles. The PNC under Corbin is cracking at all sides, hence the desperation to involve Hamilton Green (who has been a colossal failure) and Cammie Ramsaroop, another misfit.
There is no active youth arm in the PNC. It is as dead as a door nail. There is no future for that party under Mr Corbin and the WPA should not over-play the importance of him and his leadership.
The momentum for a National Unity Government (NUG) is taking root among the masses of people and every effort must be made to establish it in every workplace and every community. The formulation of such a government, once advocated by the PPP, will develop a radical programme and policies that move the country forward and prevent us from going down a detrimental path.
The forces for radical change in the country are ignited by the growing global economic crisis and its impending effects on our country’s economy, despite wild talk by President Jagdeo and his associates that we will not be affected by the world recession. Their voodoo economics have caused our country grave harm.
The visible collapse of our infrastructure (bad roads, atrocious housing, poor drainage and irrigation systems in the inner cities); high unemployment (especially among the youths); under-employment; growing poverty, especially among the urban poor; the loss of foreign exchange (loss of remittances); insecurity in the rice, sugar, bauxite, gold and timber industries; the rise in crimes of all sorts and general violence in society, all add up to the burning need for massive change.
The Ramotar-Jagdeo leadership of the PPP has a lot to answer for. People will judge them on their record in government, not the fear of the PNC coming back, which they have cleverly used to defend their position in the past.
David Hinds and Eric Philips must restrain themselves from making irresponsible statements across the board, when they only visit areas where African Guyanese live. I hope that they can see that they are part of the problem and not part of the solution. They reinforce their own biases by acting and thinking in a way that suggest that people cannot change their voting pattern.
Mr Philips’ dislike for the West-minster style of government has no place in the debate in Guyana. The fact is our electoral system, which is highly undemocratic, was created by the PNC and endorsed by the PPP. Our neighbouring Caribbean islands, especially Trinidad and Tobago operate the Westminster system and it works perfectly for them.
Why do they think that people of Indian descent do not want changes in their living conditions? I am particularly surprised by the line carried by Mr Hinds, who comes from the Walter Rodney school of thought. Rodney, as I know him, was far removed from the question of race, especially in the Guyanese context. He was able to go through Guyana and talk to anyone without fear or favour, and he successfully brought about a level of racial unity that frightened both the PPP and the PNC. What has changed?
Those of us who do serious political work in Guyana, will know that the entire country is fed up with this regime and that large numbers of the activists within the PPP are totally fed up with the Jagdeo regime and want serious change.
Messrs Hinds and Philips will not know that. The question to both of them is, why don’t they go to Indian Guyanese areas and see what is happening there and talk to them as fellow Guyanese and as brothers and sisters, as we do? I don’t have any problem going into any community in Guyana, even though I must admit that I am not too familiar with the Amerindian communities.
But Sheila Holder is absolutely correct in stating in the SN article of August 15 that political activists are too lazy to do the necessary work to change our conditions of living. We have to have this racial cross-over if we are going to develop Guyana in the 21st century as a prosperous and harmonious society, where we see each other as Guyanese and nothing less.
A National Unity Government (NUG), and not shared governance, is the answer to our country’s short, medium and long-term problems. Such a government must be guided by strict rules of engagement and codes of conduct. It must be accepted that certain PNC elements who were engaged in atrocities against the Guyanese people whilst in government cannot be part of a NUG administration and so too people who are part of Mr Jagdeo’s group.
If these rules of the game are put in place, the PPP will not be able to use the PNC again as a fear factor in the upcoming elections. There will be no racial insecurity to play on. The Donald Ramotar faction (Jagdeo’s choice for President) will be forced to defend his poor record.
Those of us who do serious work in Guyana and don’t treat Guyana as a holiday resort will know that there is a serious fracture in the PPP, and that will lead to a very good outcome in the near future.
In this regard, the AFC is making a very serious mistake in jumping the starting line. They cannot overestimate their strength and take things for granted. They need to work in a united way to force changes by working closely, and in an organised manner with the national opposition – inside the PPP and outside – to bring about the reconciliation and realignment that will be necessary for this change to take place.
Patience for the common good is what is necessary in a situation that requires fundamental change.
Yours faithfully,
Jinnah Rahman
