Dear Editor,
I seriously wonder if the PPP spinners like Prem Misir do think before they parrot propaganda. Dr Misir said a number of things in a letter to Stabroek News titled ‘The people are aware of the PPP/C’s role in maintaining macroeconomic stability‘ (October 3, 2011). I will not respond to the propaganda for that is Dr Misir’s job, despite his daily masquerade as an academic. I want to comment on a statement made by him. As usual, he blasts the opposition. He then observes “(1) the perceived coup d‘état at A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) where the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), a party without a constituency, is now at the controls, enabling the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) to gently step aside.”
Now, if the WPA controls the PNC through APNU, isn’t one of the PPP’s top propaganda men then claiming that the PNC is no longer an opposition threat? When simple logic is applied to Dr Misir’s statement, it must mean that this is really the PPP v WPA or the PPP v APNU dominated by the WPA. Why then is the PPP casting the seeds of fear to its supporters and to their children who are finally shedding the shackles of politically-driven and induced fear? It can only mean that the PPP needs the PNC. That the PPP cannot ever be relevant without the PNC. That the PPP is a terrible failure that requires the terrible failures of the PNC to appear relevant.
The logical extension of Dr Misir’s position is that the PPP is now for the first time running an election against two parties dominated by multiracial leadership in the AFC and the APNU-dominated WPA. Frankly, if the PNC is being controlled by a multiracial and moderate WPA, it cannot ever be a bad thing. From where I sit, it is an improvement for the PNC’s leadership and the PNC as a whole.
Many would argue that while brief, the WPA’s fight against the PNC during its heinous 28-year rule dwarfs that of the PPP, which gave tactical support to the PNC and which openly approached the PNC to share power. Corbin’s continued sitting as leader still remains a problem for the PNC. Its organizational structure is also crippled by various factors. The PPP’s internal structure is worse.
This issue raises an interesting question for PNC supporters as to which party they wish to support: a PNC dominated by a multiracial and moderate WPA comprised of ancient politicians or a multiracial AFC with a young leadership? The same question goes for young and old PPP supporters: do you support a party that is stuck in largely uni-racial politics or support another party that is preaching inclusivity? Even more critically, the other ethnic minorities in Amerindians and Mixed Races have to seriously ask themselves whether it is worth supporting a largely race-based party like the PPP, or support a true multiracial party (the AFC) or a party
with more multiracial leadership than the PPP (APNU). Without a doubt, the choice between a fully multiracial AFC or a PNC-dominated WPA is a no-contest. One coalition (APNU) may have a multiracial party in the WPA dominating it as Dr Misir claims, but the dinosaurs of that coalition and the lack of purity makes it a clear second to the AFC when it comes to those seeking a clean break from the political shame of the past. At the end of the day, the PPP, PNC and WPA are known commodities.
The AFC is a new commodity. The AFC has its own set of problems, but it is the best of any multiracial parties at present. In fact, it is the best of a terrible bunch of parties in Guyana.
Yours faithfully,
M Maxwell
