Dear Editor,
Why the big hullabaloo about who is or who should be the PNC’s Leader of The Opposition? What is of public interest and continues to unfold is the greed for power, which is the trademark of the executives of PNC. Why is it that a party that wants to return to power continue to self-destruct? It is clear that, like the AFC, the PNC is now rapidly disintegrating to the point of no return, with members abandoning ship at regular intervals. It may be that those who are walking the plank are good riddance, but are those that remain any better? This is not a difficult question when their track records come under scrutiny.
The name ‘PNC’ is itself a stigma, which Guyanese would like not to even repeat, and numerous baptisms have failed to remove it.
Mahatma Gandhi once said, ‘I have nothing new to teach the world, truth and non-violence are as old as the mountains’. The PNC should ponder upon these words. Has the PNC Executive members displayed any tendency to embrace the truth? Until now, they are yet to come to terms with the fact that they committed massive electoral fraud from 1968 to 1985. They bankrupted Guyana’s economy and committed theft on a grand scale. Yet they did not repent. They were given another chance in 2015, which they squandered beyond redemption. As soon as they get back into office, they began their old fiendish ways. But this time they were in a great hurry.
The PNC will never be able to be truthful. It is simply not in their DNA. Just look at the numerous attempts to rig the 2020 Elections, yet they are lying to the world that they did no such thing, and it was the PPP/C which rigged the 2020 General Elections.
Will even their own members and supporters ever trust these barefaced liars?
Moreover, to add insult to injury, they have proceeded with a most frivolous, spurious and vexatious elections petition to challenge the ‘validity and outcome’ of the 2020 Elections. They have now appealed the decision of the Chief Justice (ag), who threw out both petitions. The PNC leaders simply cannot fathom when enough is enough.
Leaders must be honest and truthful to their followers. The PNC, if they want to be accepted by the people, must change their dirty, lying ways, and accept that they indeed rigged the Elections from 1968 to 1985, and attempted to do so again in 2020, and discard their barefaced elections petition.
But to do this, a new breed of young politicians is needed, and I do not see anyone in the current crop. There must be a complete overhaul.
Has the PNC been able to shed its violent and aggressive ways? The answer is a resounding NO. Let us just replay what happened in the National Assembly on 29th December, 2021. The PPP MPs had to create a human barrier to protect Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh as he presented the NRF Bill.
Moreover, the Speaker’s Mace, a symbol of his authority, was stolen briefly, which is a threat to governance on Guyana, and can be deemed as ‘treacherous and anti-national’ (Minister Gail Teixeira). There has been past ruckus in Parliament, but this beats all, and the signs are ominous. Will there be a time in the future when gunplay will be the accepted norm? The PNC must exhibit to the masses that it has the ability to debate intelligently, and if there is need to protest, then that must be done without threats of violence and violence, burning, looting, sexual assault and rape. The PNC must convince the populace that they are capable of civilised behaviour. I saw a video in which Rickford Burke, the PNC agitator in the USA, attack Khemraj Ramjattan, the Leader of the AFC, for not participating in the recent ruckus in Parliament. Those African Guyanese who displayed maturity and encourage racial unity are called ‘house Negroes’- a derogatory term.
In conclusion, will the current PNC Leader and his followers respect Article 184 of the Constitution as it relates to the removal of the Leader of the Opposition? They have displayed sheer contempt for the Supreme Law of the Land in the past, but maybe they will respect it this time around. Even internal issues bring out the worst from the PNC.
Yours sincerely,
Haseef Yusuf
