Dear Editor,
Yesterday I wrote to table thoughts about financing sources for all political groups. Come to think of it, I may be guilty of putting the cart before the horse. I say this because what I suspected all along (native intelligence) is now being rattled by an increasingly agitated antenna. The signals and the stories coming forth are not positive for the new political people.
My sense is that they are short, way short. That is, most of the little groups do not have enough of the voter endorsements/requirements to qualify for passage past Nomination Day, which is this Friday coming. It is Monday and already the gloom of black Friday looms for these newcomers, with the exception of one, maximum two of the parties. This Black Friday has no giveaways (where are the supporting voters?), no enticing sales with pots and pans thrown in (where are those voter signatures?), and no crowds of people rushing to break down the doors (did somebody ask for voters?).
Editor, I think it is 150 names per region, and that is proving to be insurmountably difficult for most of the new groups to obtain. They are just not there. Correction, they are there, but they are not volunteering to come forward and affix signature and details to paper. Though it is a long way from now to Friday, nothing is happening, nobody is moving, and the bottom line is nothing doing. I think this aligns rather smartly with a point or two I made earlier, way earlier in the first flushes of fevered excitement, meaning that to get to that number would be a serious challenge.
So where does this leave these stragglers in the name of democracy, these suddenly marooned electoral refugees, who came with high hopes, higher rhetoric, and the highest flair, when some are considered. Like I have said, this thing does not start in November and December in preparation for elections to be held in March. It starts, I would say, at least two years before with planning, organizing, and conditioning the people of this country as to the seriousness and staying power of those who come forward. And that is only for starters.
It is a heady time, that makes people become starry-eyed and dewy-eyed every elections season, and this one is no different. In fact, because of the oil many threw caution to the winds and decided that they had to throw their hat in the ring and get in the action. Well, having done that with their hat, it is now discovered that the territory is barren and rather frozen, which is not good for those without hair on their heads. They definitely could get by without that, but the same cannot be said for brains, which were severely lacking as to what it takes by way of commitment, by way of self-sacrifice, and by way of dogged determination to stay the course, come what may. And to equip oneself and one’s group to be best-positioned for a concerted push into the savaging wilds of electoral Guyana.
Elections are not fly-by-night operations in this country; they are not one night stands nor one plane airlines. I hate to do so, but I must refer one and all to the PNC and PPP, those champions of something (durability?), who are soon to be the only ones left standing amidst the electoral ruins that have been the wreckages of those, who came beating drums and horses, but are now compelled to depart in wheelbarrows and donkeys in a dreary procession of the fallen. So where does that leave them? What are their options? Again, as recommended a little while back, they need to subsume egos and programnes under the banner of an ANUG or the one other that may be left hanging on by a fingernail. There is a slight problem with this, since ANUG may be too cognizant of the additional weight and what it could (and should) carry. There is one more choice, which is unpalatable to me, were it to come from those folding their tents.
I say this because of the speeches made at the inception about no coalition and digging in heels and going it alone, and the rest of that stirring hymn. The last remaining door to be knocked on is one of the two that houses the mighty PPP and PNC. I am sure that these behemoths are feeling the high voltage surges from their own positions. They may not wish to dilute their pool, nor be interested in picking up other people’s problems, nor even to be bothered at this point.
The question would distill to this for those political newcomers falling apart at the seams: what is it that is brought to the table? My position is clear: since they can’t even qualify for Nomination Day, they have nothing, represent nothing, offer nothing. Who would want to be so burdened? Where is the plus in that or them?
Yet stranger things have happened here, and it is early January as the election world turns in Guyana. I did say it was going to be exciting time. This might be too much for me.
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
