The decision by the incumbent A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) to go “rogue” in its refusal to accept defeat and allow for a smooth transition of government will cause the coalition to be remembered as pack of cheaters who cannot be trusted with political power.
This is the view of Chairman of A New and United Guyana (ANUG), Ralph Ramkarran, who expressed, in his most recent writings in the “Conversation Tree” that the APNU/AFC is running out of options to hang on to power and the only way out for the coalition would be to accept defeat.
Ramkarran, a veteran politician, highlighted that in this era of slim majorities, instead of going into opposition and planning for victory in 2025, the APNU/AFC decided to go rogue.
“This is a route that APNU has travelled before, between 1968 and 1992, under a different name and in a different era. It has no future, long or short term. Today, instead of promoting the worthy aspects of Burnham’s legacy, they have chosen to embrace the worst. It would mark them forever as a party that cheats, that cannot be trusted with political office,” Ramkarran said.
Ramkarran, a former Speaker of the National Assembly posited that the Coalition started its descent into the political mess it is in since the time they refused to accept losing the No-Confidence Motion. Ramkarran recalled that the coalition embarked on a scurrilous drive to overturn the passage of the motion.
After the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ruled that the motion was validly passed, APNU/AFC then argued that the court never set a date for the election and therefore, they could hold it whenever they felt like. According to the former Speaker, the coalition’s antics continued with their attempts to invalidate the recount through the courts.
He noted that things have gotten so bad that APNU/AFC, through caretaker Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Karen Cummings, told the Organisation of American States (OAS) that the CCJ invalidated the recount when this was clearly inaccurate. “There can be no doubt that with the end of the road approaching, the APNU+AFC coalition is in a mess. It is a mess of their own creation and they are losing sympathy”. The Court of Appeal is scheduled to rule on the Misenga Jones case, which seeks to force the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to use fraudulent declarations to declare the winner of the March 2 elections, on Thursday.
Ramkarran noted that when the court rules and GECOM makes a declaration based on the recount results, APNU/AFC will have truly run out of wiggle room to avoid giving up power. They will either have to concede defeat or bully their way past GECOM and the courts.
“The first possibility, and one that appears to be the most likely, is that APNU+AFC will brazen it out and refuse to give up power. But how will that work? If the GECOM declaration is not accepted, a President cannot be sworn in and Parliament cannot be convened. The President and Government would be officially illegal,” Ramkarran expressed.
Ramkarran urged APNU/AFC to do the right thing by returning to the opposition benches and work hard on regaining the trust of citizens.
The PPP/C has won the March 2 General and Regional Elections convincingly by over 15,000 votes, but President David Granger and his APNU/AFC have largely remained unmoved to the mounting calls to step aside and allow for a smooth transition of government. In fact leading Coalition members have adopted a very confrontational approach with the international Community and local stakeholders which have been calling for credible elections results to be declared in Guyana.
