…and its responsibilities
There used to be a lot of hullabaloo about the return of “free and fair” elections on Oct 5th 1992 – after 28 years of rigged elections by the PNC and its enablers. And don’t even think of saying that it wasn’t 28 years since the 1964 elections weren’t rigged. That one was more massively rigged than a three-mast schooner!! Imagine the British changing the rules of the (elections) game from the one they’d been using in their own country and every other colony from FPTP to PR – cause they’d already sold the plan for the UF to hitch up with the PNC and oust the PPP!!
Anyhow, we know now that democracy – like any other societal institution – depends on the participants being willing to observe the spirit of the rules. But because the PNC started out being rewarded by the British for gaming the system in their favour, they’ve never been willing to toe the democratic line. So, they rioted in 1997 when they lost – and the election was vitiated not because anything was found wrong with the election, but because they reneged on their agreement that ID cards would be required for folks to vote!!
But emboldened by their success in bringing the PPP government to its knees and to the table through violent street riots, they continued in this undemocratic and fascist manner for the next decade. It didn’t matter what concessions the PPP made – cutting its term of office by 2 years; holding new elections; developing PNC-identified communities etc – the PNC always wanted more. So, we had Hoyte’s slow fyaah; mo’ fyaah morphing into armed attacks on the state by some Buxton gunmen – until they were wiped out. By any means necessary, as Rodney used to say.
So, Guyanese have never been able to enjoy life in a normal democracy – the PNC made sure of that. But they eventually connived to convince a war-weary populace that they’d changed their stripes after they coalesced with the AFC. We now know how much of a farce that was!! Just as it had in the 60s, the PNC refused to play by the rules of democracy even among its coalition partners, who’d helped cover its stripes. The result was that the PNC used the opportunity to loot the state coffers as if there were no tomorrow!
And not many were surprised when the PNC blatantly tried to rig the March 2 elections to which they had to be dragged, kicking and screaming. They knew they had blown their chance! Or that they refused a declaration of results for five months to give Guyana the dubious distinction of another world record.
Can’t blame Guyanese for being “democracy” skeptics!!
…and its discontents
Even though the international community – including our sisters and brothers in Caricom – certified the March 2 elections as free and fair, the PNC and their proxies are still waging a scorched-earth strategy to oust the PPP Government once again. This time, they haven’t reached the “guns” stage as yet – but have been strenuously mobilising their base to get there. They’re using every trick in the book – with the race card coming out of their sleeves at every turn.
Can you imagine these wankers trumpeting that the PPP is killing out their supporters by injecting them with Gramoxone? Have they forgotten that the entire country knows that 90% of the nurses administering the vaccines are from their constituency?? But even your Eyewitness was floored by their latest stunt. They used the sudden death of a child to claim FALSELY that she’d just been injected with the Pfizer vaccine and that was her cause of death.
Is nothing sacred to these people? Even the passing of a child?
…and education
Now one PNC claim is they’re big on education for children. So why is it that they keep on destroying schools when protesting??
It’s now confirmed that the Mabaruma school was destroyed by arson.
