Human beings are born, they age, and then they die. While some of us pretend otherwise, that’s the fact, Jack!! But it’s different with organisations; once those in charge of them recognise signs of decay and take steps to fix them, they can reverse the process and defy death to go on forever. Take the PNC, isn’t that the situation that’s facing them today?
It was born 64 years ago, and for us Guyanese, you can say that’s old. Just look at the geezers who’re still around from its formation – like Hamilton Green – and you’ll know just how OLD it is!! Our life expectancy is just around 68 years or so! But consider the granddaddy of political parties – the Democratic Party of the USA. It was born in 1828, and it’s still going strong, isn’t it?? Just 7 years shy of its 200th birth anniversary and it just got its candidate elected as the President of America!! Its opponent, the Republican Party, was born in 1854, so it’s no spring chicken!!
But since their formation, they evolved with the times, because their leaders were willing to change the very nature of the parties for survival. For instance, can you believe that the Republican Party was formed to stop the expansion of Slavery??!! That “peculiar institution” was supported by the Democratic Party that was strongest in the South! Abe Lincoln, who “freed the slaves”, was a Republican!! We don’t have to get into all the historic challenges they faced over the years, but just the fact that they switched sides on the most critical issue facing their society should suggest the enormity of those changes.
And this brings us to the PNC, that’s been trying desperately to survive here in Guyana. Now, its partisans would protest (hopefully not violently!!) that they’ve been changing their party to face historical contingencies. Like with Hoyte’s PNC-Reform and Corbin’s PNCR-1Guyana, which unfortunately was abbreviated to PNC-R1G!!! And finally, the supposedly complete makeover as APNU by rubbing on the “lipstick” of five or so “one-man” parties. Quick now, can you, dear reader, tell us the name of Keith Scott’s “party”??
And that’s essentially why the PNC’s been courting obsolescence, isn’t it? All their “changes” have been cosmetic and designed to FOOL the voting public into thinking they’re addressing the major challenge in Guyanese politics – the ethnic divide. But they’ve never been able to abandon Burnham’s “mamaguy manoeuvre”: bring in folks from other ethnic groups who were used as “tokens”.
One might’ve thought that the latest move to coalesce with the AFC – which put the PNC into power – was a bold strategic move.
But it just reloaded Burnham’s mamaguy manoeuvre with D’Aguiar!!
…for transforming Guyana
Thursday was a historic day for Guyana. In that day’s parliamentary sitting, two bills were laid that could finally transform our country into a land of “milk and honey” for all us citizens. First was the new Natural Resource Fund (NRF) Bill that replaced the PNC’s gobbledegook concoction they’d passed illegally after they refused to acknowledge the NCM. Finally – after this is signed into law early next year, following the parliamentary debate – we’ll be able to use our oil money to fund all the transformational projects – especially infrastructural – that have been placed on the national agenda.
The other one was the Local Content (LC) Bill that would enable our local businesses and citizens to participate in the on-shore and offshore O&G activities, so that we end up with our fair share of the funds from that quarter. We have to accept that we were very low on the needed skill-sets in that sector, but the Bill should try to even out the playing field.
Let’s ensure it does!
…by new PNC Leader
To recap, unless the new PNC Leader makes fundamental changes in his party to attract crossover votes, the PNC will go the way of the dodo – extinction.
A hint to Beneba mek Quashie tek notice.
