The caption, of course, harks back to the old Agatha Christie’s murder mystery that used the end line of old children’s nursey rhyme “Ten little Injuns”. ‘Ten little Injuns standin’ in a line, One toddled home and then there were nine; Nine little Indians swingin’ on a gate, One tumbled off and then there were eight…” And for various other reasons the “Injuns” were eliminated one by one – until there were none!! Well, dear readers, as your Eyewitness observes the continued departures in the Opposition Camp, he’s deathly afraid that come September, NONE’s gonna be left standing to challenge the PPP!!
What the heck’s going on?? Following the departure of young Jermaine Figueira from the PNC – without announcing yet if he’s gonna land into the PPP’s nest as most expect – comes the resignations by two of the senior founder-leaders of ANUG. These departees at least had a reason – even though there’s been a frantic effort to muddy that rationale. ANUG was one of those parties formed to compete in the 2020 elections by individuals wrapping themselves in the flag of “for the good of Guyana” – not for themselves!! They were all from the middle class who equate their predilections with “the good of Guyana”.
However, after a rude awakening when they couldn’t even garner a single seat, they fell back on a little-known electoral device their legal bigwigs had unearthed – the “joinder” of lists by them and a couple of other paper parties. This would allow them to pool their votes AFTER elections – even though they hadn’t coalesced. The three barely scraped together one seat and – through a private agreement – agreed to share it timewise in Parliament based on the votes individually brought in. The lawyer brain-trust of ANUG, however, forgot basic law and ignored that such side agreements weren’t legally enforceable!! As such they were outwitted (out-cunninged?) by a complete novice representing just 200-odd votes who refused to vacate her seat. The ANUG bigwigs – including Senior Councils Ramkarran and Jonas – were left out in the cold.
They clearly lost the respect of some other young’uns in the party – who just decided to “collaborate” with Team Mohamed and their US-sanctioned leader – without their input. Fearing they’d also be sanctioned , the aforementioned Senior Counsels jumped ship. The claim that the “collaboration” wasn’t a “coalition” and they wouldn’t take funding from Mohamed was quite sketchy. They knew that money is fungible and there was no way in hell (or Guyana!) the Americans would buy that!!
So with ANUG now subsumed under the Jaguar-that-is-a-Leopard (!!) and the hemorrhaging AFC (two more jumped ship) declaring their members could serve with the PNC after the elections, all that’s left is for Norton to jump ship!!
…the forked tongue
Many snakes have tongues split at the end – forked – and since they can never be trusted, to “speak with a forked tongue” has come to mean being duplicitous!! One trade union leader – who’s known more for opposition politics than advancing workers’ rights – recently illustrated this phenomenon. He declared, “If we allow the PPP to use GECOM as a blunt instrument to subvert democracy, then the next stolen election won’t just be about who sits in office; it’ll be about who rules over a silenced, broken nation.”
This was the same man who – in the wake of the PNC 2020 election rigging attempt and the recount was being conducted – declared “President (Granger) has Executive responsibilities and duties…And if the Elections Commission’s actions are inimical to the interest and intent of the Constitution and the ethos of this country, then he will have to take action.”
He was echoing Hamilton Green who’d called on Granger to “… Put aside the Constitution [and] put aside the laws”!!
Snakes all!!
