Dear Editor,
In an article published in Stabroek News, Saturday, August 9, 2014, under the caption ‘PNCR won’t support more funding for provocative Walter Rodney inquiry – Granger,’ the PNCR and APNU leader gave the following reasons for his decision:
1. The commission is a plot orchestrated by the PPP/C with the aim of provoking resentment against the PNCR rather than pursuing the truth;
2. the cost of the commission is likely to exceed US$1M;
3. the PPP/C deliberately waited over 20 years until the onset of local government or general and regional elections to convene the Commission of Inquiry;
4. it seeks to divert public attention from the prevalent problems of crime, corruption, incompetence and internal conflict within its own ranks; and
5. the PNCR is dismayed with the manner in which the commission has proceeded.
While these are polemical points, most of which have been stated before, they are not sound reasons for withholding funding to complete the commission’s work. Given the known political culture of our parliamentary parties, it is natural that the PPP/C would seek political advantages from the Rodney Commission of Inquiry.
But once the die is cast, what is important is for the opposition to try to neutralize the PPP/C attempts to achieve its goal, not to engage in poorly thought out actions that enhance the PPP/C position.
Editor, I humbly submit that what Mr Granger has done by announcing his party’s intention to withhold funding for the WRCI, is give the ruling party victory on a platter, since his position makes no political sense. Mr Granger is delivering to the PPP/C the most potent means to isolate his own party, divide the APNU and the majority in parliament, while doing so on a matter that focuses on the PNCR. This approach is self-serving and is politically counterproductive.
One doesn’t have to be a political scientist to know that the WPA members in parliament will have to break ranks and vote for more funding; the AFC will be forced to fall in line – so where does this leave the PNCR and Granger? This is anyone’s guess. I close my case.
Yours faithfully,
Tacuma Ogunseye
