Dear Editor,
Notwithstanding my uncharacteristic outrage at your newspaper in the run-up to the emotionally charged 2011 elections, I join others in congratulating Stabroek News on its 25th anniversary. That being said, I have no doubt that even though I (and many) back the AFC, there are yet others who back the PPP and APNU; however, if after 47 years of the PPP/PNC, the majority of Guyanese voters feel it is time for a change from both, then they have an option in the AFC. The AFC has already said it is willing to work with “good people” from the PPP and PNC who are disappointed their own parties remain unreformed, but they are still willing to help bring about a change in our political culture and system of government. The question is: Are the majority of Guyanese and ‘good people’ from the PPP and PNC on the same page with the AFC in wanting to make needed change possible?
We need to change our dictatorial constitution, our system of awarding state contracts, our sale of state assets and resources, our system of selecting MPs, our police, prison and justice systems and our system of appointing persons to government posts at home and abroad. Besides the needed changes, we also need a government that will investigate the regime on corruption and unresolved issues relating to drugs/murders, even if it means seeking international assistance. And there is also need to revisit government deals and projects, even if these result in the forfeiture of bank accounts and assets at home and abroad. But can we trust Mr Donald Ramotar to effect change if his party is re-elected, given that he and his party are part of the existing problem? Can we depend on the respectable and admirable Mr David Granger, given that the PNC Leader is still hanging around? The change we seek is not merely a change of government, as happened in October 1992, but a change in the way government does business (being transparent and accountable) and a change in our race-based political culture (appointments, promotions, rewards and awards based on meritocracy). Ideas for unity and development must trump rigid adherence to imported ideologies that are ill-suited to our multi-racial, multi-religious society.
There is no Indian or Black communist nation to which we can relate or which we can emulate. And it is against this background of breaking the 50-something-year curse of race-based politics in Guyana that I publicly endorsed the AFC in 2006, even writing a published letter that encouraged voters to see the AFC as the key to Guyana’s future. Today, I am going to repeat what I wrote in 2006: The AFC remains the key to Guyana’s future; the key that unlocks the door to racial unity and national development. As the name implies, the AFC represents an alliance of like-minded Guyanese seeking to bring about a lasting change in our political culture. In fact, when it was launched on Saturday, October 29, 2005, at the Ocean View Hotel and Convention Centre, Mr Khemraj Ramjattan (formerly of the PPP) was named party leader and chairman and Mr Raphael Trotman (formerly of the PNC) was presidential candidate. The late Sheila Holder (formerly of the WPA) chaired the programme. How was this not the birthing of an alliance? And with a breakaway TUF grouping, what more is needed for the AFC to be considered a viable alternative to the PPP and PNC? I recall PPP General Secretary Mr Donald Ramotar quickly dismissing Messrs Ramjattan and Trotman as “wishy washy rejects,” and while some did not see any political future for the AFC, the PPP regime and the PNC worked overtly and covertly to ensure just that, starting with teaming up to pass recall legislation in the wake of Messrs Ramjattan and Trotman’s resignation from their old parties to launch the AFC while retaining their parliamentary seats. But the AFC not only survived the destructive machinations of the race-based PPP and PNC; today it appears a credible threat to their race-based politics.
And though Ms Holder passed away recently, the fact that the AFC was launched with members formerly of the PPP, PNC and WPA, shows the AFC was inclusive from the ‘get-go’ and represents changes, teething problems, notwithstanding. If the late Cheddi Jagan and the late Forbes Burnham working together before the infamous split, represented unification of Indians and Blacks, then I saw Messrs Ramjattan and Trotman in 2006 as the revival of that unifying symbol. It is true that Messrs Ramjattan and Trotman were in the PPP and PNC, respectively, when the two parties engaged in self-serving behaviour, but it is also true that both men were openly pushing for reforms in their respective parties. Mr Ramjattan spoke out against the PPP’s continued embrace of communism in these times and Mr Trotman called on the PNC to apologize for its past as part of a new look drive. In other words, they felt the winds of change blowing in Guyana and wanted to be part of its flow. Their teaming up, therefore, was no attempt at political window-dressing, and that is why today I see the AFC’s bi-racial presidential ticket in a totally different light from the PPP and PNC’s bi-racial presidential tickets. To me, the AFC represents the genuine reforms that the PPP and PNC were supposed to have effected, but did not. The AFC, therefore, is the accessible key for the majority of Guyanese who want to help make needed change possible. But first, they have to look in the rear view mirror of their life’s journey to see where they came from, and if they’re dissatisfied enough, they must then look ahead and see where they need to be going after November 28. To them I say: seize the moment and vote for the key!
Yours faithfully,
Emile Mervin
