Historic elections for the Bartica town council on March 18 could see an independent group shaking up traditional voting in the community and this has resulted in rising tensions with the governing APNU+AFC coalition which has the most to lose.
It was President David Granger who had vowed last year to transform traditional APNU/PNCR stronghold, Bartica into a town if elected and ironically now that the way is paved for the first vote for a municipal council, the ruling coalition faces a challenge from the Bartica Independent Green Alliance (BIGA).
While BIGA reportedly features candidates who have had ties to both APNU+AFC and the PPP/C, it is the governing coalition which could lose significant support to BIGA which includes Holbert Knights who was a former PNCR Chairman of Region Seven (Cuyuni/ Mazaruni).
Complicating matters for APNU+AFC is the hybrid system being used for the March 18 election. Nine of the seats on the council will be determined by proportional representation while the other nine will be settled in First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) contests. APNU+AFC and BIGA are contesting in all nine constituencies and the PPP/C in eight. In those eight FPTP contests, if APNU+AFC was to lose support to BIGA it could result in the PPP/C capturing some of those seats which would have been certainties for APNU+AFC.
BIGA’s decision not to ally with APNU+AFC has seen an increasingly acrimonious exchange with the ruling coalition which over the weekend sent a high-level delegation to Bartica helmed by President Granger. This visit was officially to hand out a bus and bicycles under the President’s `Five Bs’ education programme but Granger and his ministers later participated in a meeting which BIGA said was a political rally during which there were calls for the vote not to be split.
“We want them (BIGA) to join us in a unified front because we need them to understand that the race is not between us and them but to understand the People’s Progressive Party can very well and win Bartica if it comes to the FPTP system,” Leader of the APNU+AFC in the community, Glifford Marshall told Stabroek News in an interview yesterday.
He was responding to concerns raised by chairman of BIGA, Knights, that the coalition government, especially members of the APNU faction, are trying to intimidate his group.
“I have no idea if they are threatened and consider us a significant force to be reckoned with but over the past weeks we have ministers campaigning against us and APNU, deliberately and directly, telling people not to vote for us…they are even calling us the opposition,” Knights complained to this newspaper yesterday.
At the 2015 General Elections, the PPP/Civic lost to the coalition government by a margin of 1,618 votes. The PPP/C gained 2,981 votes while the APNU/AFC gained 4,599 votes.
Knights said that on Saturday President Granger and a team visited the community as part of its `5Bs’ initiative to distribute a 50-seater minibus and bicycles to the community. Knights said that his party attended the function, given that it was public and of benefit to the community, only to be met with a campaign rally against his party and snide remarks that he was the opposition.
Public meeting
“The government came by way of His Excellency and ministers they came for the `Five Bs’ and it turned into a political rally. He spoke of the team on the ground and took a shot at my organisation. At the end of the meet the Master of Ceremonies thanked us and called us the opposition BIGA. I mean, we went to a public meeting not a political rally. We know the PPP is the opposition so when did that change and turn us? We at this point are concerned. At what point it changed from a public meeting into a public rally?” Knights questioned.
However, APNU’s representative said that Knights was being “petty” and that the President used the occasion to speak on several other issues. “The President spoke on several issues not on BIGA alone… What President Granger wants them to understand, and was at pains to explain, is that he wants inclusionary democracy and shared governance. We cannot go into this the LGE divided. If they would just understand the 18-seat system, they will see that if votes have to be shared we can end up with a minority PPP ruling the majority. The President wants unity that is it bottom line,” he said.
“BIGA is not the problem. PPP is the problem. We must agree that PPP totally controlled the IMC (Interim Management Council for the previous Bartica Neighbourhood Democratic Council) and where is Bartica today? They are aware of what happened under the PPP and that party would be all too glad to win and then just work in contrary, to show that the government is not helping, not BIGA you know”, Marshall said.
He blasted BIGA for what he called “total disrespect for the President”, explaining that when Granger reached out to BIGA to form a united party for Bartica, the group requested to have the lion’s share of seats. “BIGA is disrespectful you know. Imagine when they were asked to join the two parties. They said they had no problem but the coalition had to come under them and we go as BIGA, they would not take the APNU+AFC name for the LGE. How could he tell the President that? That is total disrespect I think it was wrong and disrespectful,” Marshall opined.
“This is the same BIGA that is saying that Granger is a dictator but the president … wants a united Barticia not factions fighting. We are already seeing that and when both sides compete tempers flare and it will get nasty. It’s like you put two people from the same side in the ring and say fight, one comes out a winner yes but both are wounded. That is what the president is trying to avoid,” he added.
‘Formation’
But an executive of BIGA, Veronica Charles says she is not buying the “talk of inclusion” because she feels it is only a front and her stance is rooted in how the coalition has treated her party since its formation.
“They wanted to consolidate the power. When we were forming, some of us are from the coalition and the PPP, so we thought it fit to write the leaders informing what we planned to do. We didn’t expect this. We know it is local government and we have the ability to lead our people, we also don’t think the major parties should have been involved, but look at how we are treated. They are telling the people a vote for BIGA is a vote for the PPP. I want to know how?” she questioned.
“When we were invited to a meeting , their rep Mr. Warrant, came and he said to us they want us to shut down BIGA and come on board with them….when we asked what is it that you are going to give, they said that it was the town clerk and the engineer positions. Now this is no negotiation at all. Town Clerk and engineer is two public servant position and if they are to be fair they have no control over that. If the president saying that he was championing for LGE and when you look at it as is, it leaves you to wonder if he was genuine…” she added.
Charles maintained that herself and members are still affiliated to, and in support of, the bigger national political parties, APNU+AFC and the PPP/C. However, her party believes passionately that that such support, though very strong, is limited to their respective party’s participation in the National and Regional elections, and does not extend into the Local Government Elections.
“Our group firmly believes that it is the locals who give power to the parties at the national and regional levels. Therefore, these parties should not be allowed to contest against the same locals in the local government elections. Local government elections should be only for independent volunteer groups and individuals to contest, on a fair and even platform. BIGA’s response is to that belief,” she stressed.
Municipality make up (FPTP)
Contesting in Bartica East (North) Consistency 1, are Ivor Melville Pastor of (APNU+AFC); Adolphus Belle for the PPP/C and Ian Beckles for BIGA.
In Constituency 2 Bartica East (South) are Jermaine Joseph for BIGA; Tiffany Martindale for the PPP/C and Orin Griffith for the APNU+AFC.
In Bartica East Central Constituency 3 is Lennox Lyte-Rankin for the APNU+AFC, and Ignatius Prowell for BIGA.
In Constituency 4 are Joan Khan for BIGA; Lloyd Garraway APNU+AFC and Devina Persaud for the PPP/C.
In Bartica West Central (South) Constituency 5, Marissa Sue for the PPP/C; Dock Supervisor Stanley Dutchin for APNU+AFC and Zulifikar Hack (BIGA).
In Bartica (West) Constituency Six, Latoya Schultz is representing BIGA while Errol Murray is appearing for the PPP/C and Warren Williams for APNU+AFC.
In Constituency 7, Tumering- Mongrippo (West), Deborah Browne is contesting for APNU+AFC; Bisnauth Khanai, for the PPP/C and Troy Thornhill for BIGA.
In Tumering- Mongrippo (East), Constituency 8, Carol Elliott Fredericks is appearing for BIGA; David Drepaul for the PPP/C and Hazel Ann Allicock for APNU+AFC.
And in Constituency 9 Koetaru-Big Barabara are Mark Ambrose for APNU+AFC, Sonia Simmons for PPP/C and Vivian Licorish for BIGA.
