Countdown… to “E” Day

In more ways than one, elections are like horseraces. The parties’ pedigrees play a big role even before the starter gun leads to the cry of “Aaaand they’re off!!” Then there’d be their trainers and training regimen and record – and finally, jockeys who’ll be in charge of reading the field even as the race is going on!! So now that we’re on the homestretch of the Sept 1st elections’ final lap, how does your Eyewitness see the race playing out??
Well, two pedigreed parties saddled up – the PPP and the PNC – as they’ve done from the 1950s. The latter’s been trying every which way to hide its pedigree of cheating, beating and burning the place down when it lose a race – and now races as APNU! But it sadly hasn’t been able to overcome its challenges exposed when choosing its jockey for the race – Aubrey Norton. Two of the wannabe jockeys dropped out of the selection process when they claimed that Aubrey had rigged the committee’s membership!! Aubrey insisted on being both the jockey and trainer/strategist for the race – which clearly has made him use the WPA racist rabble-rousing prod that has made his horse falter!!
Parties and horses need infusions of solid nutrients – hay and grains for horses and BIG moolah for parties!! The PNC-as-APNU has looked like a tired old nag which Aubrey’s done nothing to change in the lead-up to the race!! Could be the lack of money – but that depends on the jockey also, no?? The crowds at the PNC rallies have been nothing like those of yore – one reason being they haven’t been inspired by Aubrey and another the PPP’s outdone them in every regard.
The PPP’s been getting boatloads of political nutrients – and not from State coffers as Aubrey snipes! It’s usual for the business community to hedge their bets by throwing some green at all parties – but in this race, looks like they’ve given up on Aubrey. So his horse is starving while the PPP’s is luxuriating!! And it shows!! The second reason for the PPP outshining  the PNC is they got a strategist in VP Jagdeo to guide the jockey Irfaan Ali – who has a whole lotta wins on his record over the last five years!!
The AFC horse could barely mosey over to the starting gates on Nomination Day – and nothing has happened since then to show they regained pedigree or sustenance!! They might at best stumble home!! The wildcard’s been Sanction Man’s WIN copiously funded from his ill-gotten gains!! He’s provided a home for a new demographic dubbed “Scrapeheads”. But since those are mostly from the PNC’s base, he’s only giving Aubrey more headaches!!
The others – including Aubrey’s erstwhile challenger – have long faded!!

…on Mad Maduro’s days??
Well, over in Venezuela, Mad Maduro’s invoking the old days in his neck of the world when Spain would roll up on their front door, so to speak, in their flotillas of warships to set local warlords straight! The American warships and troops have now reached Venezuelan waters and we gotta wait to see what will be their next move in their declared objective to remove the Venezuelan drug Cartel de los Soles!!
In the meantime, Mad Maduro – who now has a US$50M bounty on his head – had boasted he’s mobilised 4.5 million Chavista civilian loyalists for the Bolivarian Militia – Chávez’s version of the Chinese People’s Army. While screaming to his citizen-soldiers that “Marines are landing!! Marines are landing” – Maduro’s once again using the occasion to rally disgruntled Venezuelans around the flag!!
It’s quite unlikely the Yanks are gonna put American boots on the ground – and possibly into body-bags – since their drones and Aegis-guided missiles can easily cripple the country!!

…to non-racial politics
As your Eyewitness has been saying as the election nears – looks like the PPP’s overcome the racial jumbie in our politics. One sign was Burnham’s daughter Roxanne and husband Van West-Charles at their Stewartville Rally!! Kumbaya!!