…with the PNC
Your Eyewitness has to fess up. He’d never realised all these past 25 years the date of the birth of the PNC – which killed democracy in Guyana – was to the birth of democracy on Oct 5th: the day after! The Big Guy up there does have a sense of humour. But then HE did arrange “birth and death” as one of those “pair of opposites” some folks are always carrying on about!!
So, the PNC leaders raised their party’s flag yesterday, and your Eyewitness breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it wasn’t over the Court of Appeal. This, of course, was what their Founder Leader Burnham had done after he declared the PNC was “paramount” over the government and the state.
Just as Burnham had done when he was squeezed into office with the UF in 1964, the APNU isn’t showing all its cards just yet.
That will come after 2020 – which might just stretch into 2021 – when we’ll have our defining elections for the next three decades. That defining moment for Burnham’s PNC came in 1968 when – as the US classified files show – he came up with several stratagems to “fix” the elections scheduled for that year.
He was allowed to get away with his dirty deed cause the US had a bee in their bonnet about Cheddi and the Commies.
Since the latter has disappeared, is it the oil this time? Ah well, politics and economics were always joined at the hip. Even Marx referred to “political economy”. But 1968 brings up that PNC leader who Pressie studiously avoids mentioning in his panegyrics – Desmond Hoyte. Was it because Hoyte bypassed him for the Chief of Staff position in favour of Joe Singh?
Anyhow Hoyte was critical to our first electoral rigging in 1968 – which led to the neutering of the PPP as well as the expulsion of the UF. Hoyte was a young lawyer in Burnham’s law firm of Martin and Clark – and he was seconded to the then Guyana Elections Commission.
He piloted the approval of the electoral list being extracted from the General Registration rolls – which allowed to any number of PNC’s supporters being “created” and enfranchised.
The rest, as they say, is history. A sordid history, but history nevertheless – and one that almost certainly, is about to be repeated. In the upcoming “farce”, the AFC will be discarded like a used condom even though it provided protection for the dirty deed about to be consummated on the Guyanese people.
But who said politics is played by the Marquis of Queensbury Rules? Not the PNC!!
…with preferential politics
Well, Pressie did advise the gathered African organisations during their August soiree to make their demands. Ask, he said, and it will be given unto them.
ACDA just stepped up to the crease – and boy did they hit some big shots!!
It seems “the APNU+AFC government (is) fearful and hesitant to work towards economic parity for African-Guyanese (because) the PPP, its agents, supporters, some media houses and persons, have started a vicious and rabid propaganda campaign against any effort to level the economic playing field.”
Evidently, the government had budgeted spending for the African community but the “fear” has paralysed the government from spending its allocated budget.
Now we know the reason for this anomalous state of spending!
Seems the procurement system is also “skewed”!! And there needs to be more firings by the government since there’s “the retaining of persons who have and continue to work at sabotaging every effort that would bring economic justice to African-Guyanese.”
There goes that last Indian PS left standing!!!
…with army takeover
The 10th UG VC – who made a career of consulting with the US Military – just made the 50 year old GDF Officer Cadets’ Course equivalent into a UG Diploma.
Facilitates GDF Officers’ qualifications for civilian govt posts!!
