Reflecting on the collective despair that accompanied the People’s Progressive Party/Civic’s (PPP/C) loss of power in 2015 and the way the party was able to defeat its successor at the polls even while in Opposition, General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo is optimistic that his party’s electoral chances are stronger than ever before against a weakening party.
During his address at an event hosted by the PPP at Babu Jaan, Corentyne, Region Six to “Celebrate the life and work” of Father of the Nation and its Founder, Dr Cheddi Jagan, Jagdeo opined that their party’s direct rivals, the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) is a “dying” organisation.
“That party, that philosophy, the racism of the PNC will lead to their demise. And now, they’re rapidly dying as an organisation. And the next elections, not just in the Local Government, we will prove that definitively. The one in 2025,” Jagdeo said.
He referenced the PNCR’s efforts to “bad mouth” the PPP/C Government in the international arena and said that those efforts have backfired since the Opposition party cannot substantiate its constant claims of racism.
“When I hear everyone talk about inclusivity, just recently they’ve been trying in the international community to go and bad mouth us. To say, oh this is a racist Government and they were told, well if you look at the Judiciary it’s balanced in this country. You have people of every race in the Judiciary. In the legislature, it reflects the nature of Guyana.”
“And in the executive of our party, the Cabinet, it looks like Guyana too. So, what are you talking about? Recently, the State Department report pointed out that in spite of these complaints, this Government has people of all races in senior leadership positions. And that is the nature of our party,” he said.
And in a seeming reference to civil society actors who have been critical of the Government, Jagdeo noted that the party reserves the right to defend itself since in many cases these civil society actors are biased and feed into an inaccurate narrative about the Government.
In fact, Jagdeo was of the view that the party did not do this enough when they lost power in the 2015 General and Regional Elections. He urged supporters of the party to use social media to push back against false narratives.
“If a party cannot defend its legacy. If a party doesn’t speak up about what it stands for. Then that party will never have longevity in politics. Somehow in the past, we let the narrative from the other side overpower us. And it led to our demise in 2015. In 2015, they were controlling the narrative.”
“They used social media to distort everything that this party stood for. They even denigrated and changed our track record of progress. They spoke of corruption as a massive campaign tool. And we did not do enough in 2015 to fight back against that narrative and it led to our demise,” Jagdeo said.
Jagdeo noted that today, when the party pushes back against its critics, there are those who would say that the party is intolerant of criticism. The General Secretary made it clear, however, that the party, while not being intolerant of criticism, will also defend its record.
“We are not political eunuchs. We will fight tooth and nail every single day, to speak about the record and the achievements of this party. And if all of us don’t set up a (social media) page and join that fight, they will succeed again.”
Preparations for Local Government Elections (LGE) have been progressing, even against opposition from the PNCR. Last month, Local Government and Regional Development Minister Nigel Dharamlall had set Monday, June 12, 2023, as the date for the holding of the much-anticipated and long overdue LGE in Guyana.
LGE were initially set for March 13 this year, but GECOM had deferred it in December 2022 to address issues relating to its registration exercise. This postponement occurred after court action was filed by Opposition-aligned persons, challenging the process used to compile the List of Electors, or Voters’ List, for the pending LGE.
LGE, which is constitutionally due every two years, was last held in 2018. At the last LGE in November 2018, the then PPP/C Opposition had secured 52 of the 80 Local Authority Areas (LAAs). This followed the holding of the LGE in 2016, when the PPP/C had also claimed most of the LAAs.
