Following outreaches to the country’s hinterland regions, Liberty and Justice Party (LJP) leader Lenox Shuman has said he found that people are fearful of being victimised by either of the two major parties if they support him.
During an interview with Stabroek News, Shuman said that for the past few weeks he and other party members have been on the campaign trail in regions, 1,2,3,7, 8 and 9. He said while they have received a lot of positive responses from people in those regions, they were disheartened to learn that those people are also hesitant about supporting the LJP because they are fearful of being victimised after the upcoming March 2nd elections.
“We have had some positive responses but there is still a great amount of fear among people. They don’t want to be victimised. We receive messages constantly from people wanting to come onboard and support LJP but they are fearful of what the [opposition] PPP [People’s Progressive Party] or the APNU+AFC [A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance For Change] parties will do to them post-elections, if they [the two parties] found out that they are supporting us,” he stated.
He added that their fear is understandable since those persons are no strangers to victimisation.
However, he said that particular worry was “disgusting” to hear, especially since the constitution states that people have a right to join any political party of their choice. “I think for Guyana to be in this position 54 years after independence should show the scant regard that both the PPP and APNU+AFC have for the constitution. You cannot say that you respect the constitution but yet when someone disagrees with you, you create victims in society. And if you respect the constitution in Guyana, regardless [of] if the persons vote for you or not, they should not become victims of your political ideology,” he stressed.
Nonetheless, Shuman said that despite possible victimisation in the near future, others have openly pledged their support in a number of communities. In one instance, he said, a resident of Paramakatoi wrote him a poem describing him as their long-awaited “Geronimo,” in reference to the Apache leader and medicine man best known for his fearlessness in resisting anyone who attempted to remove his people from their tribal lands.
“Silenced for years by the PPP and PNC, /We want to be represented by the LJP. /We know your task is not an easy one,/ But with commitment and hard work it can be done,” the poem states. “I think that pretty much sums up the sentiments we have had in the communities,” Shuman noted, before adding that the poem can be read on the party’s Facebook page.
Shuman also said that at every campaign meeting held they have ensured that they ask the people what they are looking for in the next administration and what their plans are for their future or their children’s future. He said the responses coincide with LJP’s manifesto.
‘Awake’
He added that it is “unfortunate” that the PPP/C and APNU+AFC have done everything in their power to ensure that people are wary of his party but he’s glad that “the people are awake” as they are now starting to see what LJP is about and what the two major parties have delivered in the past 54 years.
Shuman then revealed that one of the major setbacks he endured as a result of efforts to remove him from his party’s candidates’ list over a challenge to his citizenship was being unable to commence campaigning as planned. He noted too that he lost promised financing from donors. “When the remarks were made [they were] made by the PPP and PNC (elections) commissioners, not by the chairman herself, and when I saw that, she said, the commission issued no statement but I cannot muzzle the commissioners. The intent from the PPP and PNC camp is not to look at things objectively and in line with the mandate of GECOM [the Guyana Elections Commission], it was simply to interrupt the LJP, to diminish our support and to spread as much lies as they possibly could in the fields so as to damage what we stand for and to damage our support base in that sense,” he stated before adding that his party has confidence in the GECOM Chairperson Justice (ret’d) Claudette Singh to execute her mandate.
“So that has caused some setbacks. The finances we had anticipated on receiving from legitimate donors were pulled back because they thought I was not going to be able to contest and when that was cleared up the money was already allocated elsewhere but we have recovered,” he said. “The donations that we have been getting is very small sums but they have done enough,” he stated.
Shuman is heading to Region One and Region Seven after which the LJP will close its campaign on Saturday at Pakuri or St Cuthbert’s Mission, where he had served as toshao.
LJP has agreed to join its list with A New and United Guyana and The New Movement and Shuman noted that they are confident of winning a few seats in Parliament. He said they will also be combining their resources to ensure that they have polling agents at most polling stations across the country.
