Dear Editor,
Former Leader of the Opposition, Joseph Harmon was pressured out of that position because the PNCR had turned into a press statement party under his leadership. He must now be rocking with laughter since we have boldly and barefacedly returned to exactly that.
However, much is at stake because we are heading to national elections in 2025 and instead of severe pressure being applied to bring the PPP to its senses, what we are seeing is Jagdeo playing on our internal party differences and is likely to entice over some of our party officials and MPs. It is clear that there is no fight left in our party’s current leadership and it can be fairly concluded that there was no fight there in the first instance.
What is good for the goose is good for the gander and if it were right for Harmon to be removed for writing empty letters that Jagdeo found amusing as the PPP continued its rampage on Guyana, it has to be the same for the current leadership, only now it can be said that Jagdeo and his PPP do not find our daily press statements amusing because he does not even bother to read them. He is too busy riding roughshod over the opposition.
While Harmon had the support of most of his party comrades it was evident that he was not up to robustly challenging the PPP and he paid the price for that. The same cannot be said of the current Leader of the PNCR who could barely keep the party together and does not enjoy the genuine support of his MPs. However, he is lucky in the sense that the party has to engage in a public show of having a united front but the rut is eating away at its internal core and weakening it by the hour.
The leader on the other hand seems comfortable in remaining as Opposition Leader for the unforeseen future. Many of the party leader’s ardent pitbull-like supporters are now quiet. It is as if they realise that something is not right when a poodle is put to lead.
Harmon may have been a press statement leader and one that was apparently friendly with the PPP but he was not facing an upcoming national elections in an oil rich state governed almost single-handedly by Jagdeo. It can be argued that Harmon as leader at a time of national elections could have easily redefined himself and redoubled his efforts to be victorious at the polls because he has the resources and had full support of his comrades and many Indo Guyanese business people.
The current leader must now tell the Guyanese people what he has in his arsenal to take the opposition to victory and save Guyana. It can never be too late for the party to strategise to find the best possible solution to revitalise the party and opposition to prepare to be a viable alternative to the PPP in 2025. As it is today, our supporters are uncertain about the current leadership, its performance and readiness to take the helm and lead Guyana.
The questions must be asked and the party must be publicly grilled and must be prepared to tell Guyanese what mettle the PNCR has outside of press statements trailing behind every wrong Jagdeo visits on the country. It is time for us to pressure the leadership of the PNCR to act in the best interest of Guyana and its supporters.
Sincerely,
Norman Browne
Social and Political Activist
