Dear Editor,
Only if you have been living under a rock then you would be surprised at the stalled elements emanating from the meeting between APNU and AFC. Empty promises and schmoozing combined without any meaningful plan to reconcile differences among the spiel politicians within APNU have haunted and handicapped this regime from delivering from the first days that it slipped into power. Their ultimate aim has been to keep the PPP as far away from power as possible, and in so doing, have failed to meet mandated responsibilities: protecting the average person from wanton crime and providing job opportunities to the youths, among others. We have been in Mudville for a long time and there seems to be no change shortly. What makes it more disheartening is that AFC has always danced to the tune and tone of the PNC and now the former has been caught with its pants down. AFC cannot conceal the fact the seams of the coalition have been fragile, that it has lost credibility of being a third force, that its support base has decreased precipitously and that it does not have much to offer to APNU in terms of maintaining or bringing additional votes to assure victory in the upcoming general elections.
Three characteristics make Khemraj Ramjattan an unlikely and unsuitable Prime Ministerial candidate to APNU. First, he has displayed too much angst towards the opposition and its supporters to bring any unity between Africans and Indians. His selection would create more divisions and may very well undermine any chances of APNU to be successful at the polls. Second, he has proved to be through his track record an ineffective minister. Under his watch crime has been inexorable. He will not do well as a Prime Minister considering conditions in Guyana will become less malleable. Third, Ramjattan is a scalawag politician, ad nauseam.
The self-imposed problem Ramjattan faces is that he would find it too difficult to fool the citizenry for the second time without having to stand the consequences of his action. Do you remember the $9000 per bag promise for paddy? Do you remember the closing down of most of the sugar estates? What could he say to the people in Berbice to bring in votes for APNU? Even if he swears under oath that his promises are real, most people will not take him seriously. Why would the APNU want to grant him that coveted Prime Ministerial position? What would provide hope for Khemraj Ramjattan is some self-pruning to improve his carpetbagging status but that is too late.
Yours faithfully,
Lomarsh Roopnarine