Dear Editor,
Social and political activist Mark Anthony Benschop, who is seeking to gain a few seats in Guyana’s Parliament by contesting the 2015 national elections, has complained about his flyers and political party posters being vandalised in APNU+AFC strongholds.
The human rights fighter, who spent five years in prison on trumped up charges of treason during the presidency of Bharrat Jagdeo, is the leader of the Independent Party. Benschop is best known and liked for his social and political work representing the disadvantaged in Guyana. He has brought relief to many of Guyana’s destitute citizens through his charitable organisation, the Benschop Foundation, based in Georgetown and had also shown a strong interest in vying for the position of Mayor of Georgetown.
Mr Benschop is also a popular blogger and the host of Benschop Radio. Many who know him would always define him in one word: courageous.
Guyana faces its most crucial elections expected to be held in less than eight weeks, and the coalition is gaining tremendous public support as many are determined to see the end of the PPP’s twenty-three years of bad governance. The recent historic unity merger between Indian and African politicians and the fielding of an African presidential candidate and an Indian prime ministerial candidate from the APNU and AFC respectively, have caused the elections campaign to reach fever pitch. Many are adamant that nothing must interfere with what appears to be the best possible opportunity to remove the PPP/C from office through democratic means.
It appears as if Mr Benschop the politician will not be able to garner the support or enjoy the popularity he has had in other areas of his public life. I have spoken to many Guyanese at home and abroad who believe that Mark Benschop would have become a successful politician had he chosen to align himself with the coalition.
Questions surround the seeming secrecy of the Independent Party as it relates to who the key players are and why that political party has not decided to contest for the presidency and prime ministerial positions. The greater concern, however, seems to be centred around the question of why Mark Benschop would want to split the votes in the coalition constituencies at such a crucial and historic political moment, especially when the coalition needs every single vote to be victorious at the upcoming polls.
More serious politicians believe that Mr Benschop will be forced to pull out as a result of not being successful in gaining the required numbers needed at nominations.
It would have also been a boost for the Independent Party, if it were able to attract Guyanese professionals and young people who may share the same belief as the party leader, that the actors in the coalition are largely from the era of yesteryear politics who may not be able to bring the change Guyana needs. It appears that the party is seen as a one-man show.
It is, however, Mr Benschop’s democratic right to pursue his political ambitions and give it his best shot at becoming a serious politician who will play a major role in decision-making at parliamentary level. Like every other political group, Mr Benschop and his party will be subjected to rigorous scrutiny. His personality, his public utterances and his party’s unpreparedness to contest the elections in a traditional way will inevitably be thrown into the spotlight.
Yours faithfully,
Norman Browne