Dear Editor,
A letter by Dr David Hinds published in SN on January 26 was captioned ‘After 23 years of an Indian Guyanese presidency, African Guyanese are being asked to vote for another.’ I know Dr Hinds is a skilful writer, but at first I was wondering if he really thought this through to the end before making this statement. Did he factor in that the PNC in whatever shape or form it took (APNU, PNCR, etc) never won a free and fair election in Guyana, not even a plurality? What is more ethnically dishonourable? To say we had Afro-Guyanese rulers since 1968 who were elevated to office by fraud? The vision is to see people like Nigel Hughes and Sharma Solomon winning elections fair and square on merit. It can be done and it will be done.
Guyana remains a poor and racially polarized country exactly because the majority of the key national decisions over the last 50 years were made from an ethnic standpoint. If we continue within this ethnic paradigm, we will end up with a government that is no better than either the PPP of present or PNC of the past. I want to go on record as acknowledging that other than the decade of progress from 1989-1999; both of these governments have failed us miserably, and it is unreasonable to ask the majority of people to swallow more of the PPP or the PNC (in the form of the APNU).
What are the rational options?
- A 3-way race – all available electoral indicators are illustrating that the PPP will win a smaller plurality (PPP wins, Guyana loses).
- A combined anti-PPP alliance led by the APNU – this will end up as a dead-heat ethnic contest between the PPP and PNC. Fear politics will take centre stage, further turning off the youths who are the soldiers that can make a difference and break this PPP-PNC configured model of ethnic politics. In such conditions the most likely outcome is a slim PPP majority, since the AFC will be obliterated. Pound for pound the PPP’s elections machinery is much superior to APNU’s. That machinery can bring out the hard core base from the villages, something that the PNC (APNU) has never equalled, even when the PNC was in government. (PPP wins again).
- A combined anti-PPP alliance led by the AFC with the APNU being offered the majority of the cabinet – This is the PPP’s greatest fear since they recognize that they do not have the political ammunition to peddle racism in the East Indian communities against a political giant like Moses Nagamootoo who has roots in the rural communities several layers deep. When the Moses factor is added to the APNU base, the PPP shall be beaten fair and square since their racist messages will fall flat on deaf ears. Why? Many persons who voted for the PPP in the past are ready to peel away from the PPP but they need a leader whom they can align with. Try telling them that they must vote for the Palm Tree. That is like telling a former PNC supporter to vote for the Cup. This option will also give the AFC, as the balance of power party, that mandate to lead the process of writing a new constitution. (Guyana wins).
The APNU has a clear choice – more of the PPP in government or the majority of the seats in the next cabinet of the Government of Guyana. If the APNU allows egos which drive this loose concept of ethnic honour to dictate their political actions in these negotiations, especially in an environment where the non-tribal population is at its highest levels, they will have no one to blame for the fossilization of their party. In the last census a significant percentage of Guyanese did not consider themselves as East Indian or Africans. This is a key factor in let the process to move away from the politics of the past.
I however agree with Dr Hinds that at this juncture, “African Guyanese are being asked to make a tremendous sacrifice.” But this is the sacrifice required to see the back of the PPP. This is not an easy decision for APNU but history and their own supporters will judge them harshly if we end up with five more years of the PPP dominating the Government of Guyana and further marginalizing the working class.
I would to take this opportunity to remind Dr Hinds of the words of Martin Luther King who once said “human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step towards the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering and struggle.”
Just as the struggles of Dr King crystallized into a President Obama, who knows, this 2015 sacrifice being asked of the APNU may crystallise into a President Sharma Solomon one day soon.
Yours faithfully,
Sase Singh