…from the int’l community
President Irfaan Ali is certainly coming into office with a whole lotta goodwill from the international community. Something the PNC certainly didn’t plan on when they embarked on their heist of the elections back in March. Can you remember what life was BE (Before Elections) – much less how the PPP was viewed?? Well, let’s refresh your memory, Dear Reader. At a minimum, there was no discernible sign that they were anything but neutral at best…but in retrospect the PNC had already started to burn some bridges.
They’d benefitted from international goodwill back in 2015 when they took over after the PPP’s 23-year-long regime that inevitably accumulated the usual amount of detritus in such a long run. Especially from the US. The PNC ensured that the 2014 “feral blast” at the departing Ambassador, for instance, wasn’t forgotten and his successor certainly expressed his opinion at the 2015 elections!! The APNU/AFC coalition government was lauded as a bold “multiracial” entity that addressed the needs of the country. Caricom, as usual, was very warm to the coalition govt as they participated exuberantly in two Carifesta extravaganzas.
But none of these governments could’ve failed to notice how the PNC immediately degutted the Cummingsburg Accord that formed the basis for the coalition’s vaunted “power sharing”. And then, of course, Granger started his long march to replicate the policies of his hero Burnham – ignoring agriculture; destroying agriculture; buttressing the armed forces; staffing Government departments with ex-military personnel – and flagrantly flaunting corruption in every facet of governmental operations. Their amazing decision to contest that staple of constitutional parliamentary governance, the No Confidence Motion, had to’ve been a severe jolt – especially to the British.
So, when the PNC launched “Operation Mingo” on March 4 in front of the ABCE Ambassadors, it confirmed their growing suspicion that the PNC was taking Guyana down the road to dictatorship and instability – again. And that’s when they must’ve erased any doubts they had towards the PPP. After all, to their credit, they’d demitted office in 2015 after making a very strong claim that the election had been rigged through the manipulations within GECOM and demanded a recount of 22 ballot boxes. They placed the country first and went for the elections petitions.
We know to our cost the cynical use of the courts made by the PNC from the NCM through the specious claims about elections fraud so your Eyewitness doesn’t have to reprise that sordid bit of Guyanese history.
What he does know is that happy days are ahead – for those who are willing to put their shoulders to the wheel to develop Guyana.
Guyana has friends in strategic places!!
…and development
The number one priority for the Irfaan Ali Administration is to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic that’s threatening to careen out of control – while simultaneously dealing with the pressures it has placed on economic activities – and inevitably, on the livelihoods of ordinary workers. This is a war that will have to be fought on two fronts. It’s not going to be easy, but Ali has already demonstrated leadership in this area to show that in such a situation, the government will have to be simultaneously very proactive on both fronts.
The PNC, unfortunately, focused on COVID-19 from a POLITICAL angle – using it to give Harmon supreme powers akin to General Mac Arthur over Japan after the end of WWII. Did anyone see Harmon in the trenches distributing hampers to the at-risk communities? Nope – he was more concerned with restricting the number of counting stations at the ACCC!
On the economic front, the “share the corn” PNC totally abandoned the business community that produces the corn.
President Ali already unveiled a plan to fix this!!
…and Granger
It’s very unfortunate that elements in the PNC have viciously attacked ex-President Granger for accepting the court-validated declaration of GECOM.
They’re displaying a fundamentally anti-democratic attitude that must be rejected by the rank and file.
