Dear Editor,
Immediately after the last major cricket tournament in the Caribbean, a video clip went viral. It showed a frustrated news announcer saying, “Same (expletive) again! Like I fed up”.
This is how I feel when I hear ex-AFC member Timothy Jonas parroting the AFC mantra under a new party symbol. It was quite appropriate that he used the announcement of an alliance with the Fed-Up party to do so, for I am fed-up of ANUG and listening to its Chairman’s twisted perspective of Guyanese.
Being a dual-citizen and being ineligible to sit in our Parliament must come with the freedom to spout without thought or worry about consequence.
Jonas is seeking the votes of Guyanese who are not ‘racial’. He says these number about 35,000, and asserts boldly that all who vote for the two large established parties do so based on ethnicity only.
Jonas offers nothing to show he is not racial, other than his statement that he is not. Can he say if he ever voted for any of the big two? And if, as he asserts, those who do so are racially motivated, how does he reconcile that with ANUG’s Presidential Candidate, who was a former executive member of the PPP?
Did Jonas have a conversation with Ralph Ramkarran that has led him to believe that Ramkarran was racist and has now reformed?
I hope this demonstrates the fallacy of the theory that voting is done only along racial lines. Jonas is hoping to attract votes, and then play kingmaker in Parliament as AFC did when they caused the Amaila Falls Hydro Project to he abandoned. The next time you get a blackout, think about where we could have been with a more abundant and cheaper power supply.
Jonas declares boldly that they will not win the election, but hope to “broker for policies and reforms”, and to “play significant roles on state boards and commissions”. Jonas dreams of using one seat in Parliament by garnering five thousand votes. He is an aspiring ‘Lord-of-the-Rings’ one-ring to control them all Wizard.
It takes a strange sort of fellow to hold a press conference to announce an alliance of political parties when neither the other party nor his Presidential Candidate was in attendance. This level of non-commitment shows that they lack self-belief. Guyanese want decisive leadership by genuine people who have demonstrated care for the welfare of their fellow man. recycled Kingmakers need not apply.
Guyana has a large, multi-ethnic party, the PPP/C, which gets the majority of its traditional support in rural areas, but as recent local government elections results show, voters in Georgetown have made a decisive shift towards the PPP/C. The PPP/C dominates in 8 of the 10 Regions in Guyana, and has made big inroads into Regions 4 and 10. The constitutional reform desired by ANUG to move to constituency representation “to give the small parties a chance” would be anti-democratic, as it would consign the PNC to opposition forever, regardless of whom they coalesce with. Our present system is the fairest, given our population densities and spread.
Jonas and others are open to alliances with men like Robert Badal. Have there been any inducements from the money-man? Is this all an elaborate AFC redux, or are they willing to join with anyone in furtherance of power-broking? Is that not what the AFC did? Were the results not disastrous? Did Jonas not learn from his previous mistakes, or did the Senior Counsel snub cut too deeply?
Jonas can label Guyanese as racist and insult at will, but we all know the saying: ‘Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me’. Jonas needs to come clean on all these questions, especially the rumours that a coalition fund is being used by Badal to induce others to join him.
Looking at all that is being said and done by all parties, big and small, I am further convinced that I have made the right shift with a move into the PPP/C. No pre-election promises to share ministerial portfolios, only a promise to work hard for the betterment of all Guyanese.
Looking at Jonas, all I can say is, “I fed-up of ANUG; is the same S*&% again!
Yours truly,
Quacy Monroe
