…or alive?
Before the AFC actually got hitched up with the PNC (you don’t really believe this “APNU” fairy tale, do you, dear reader?) Khemraj Ramjattan had predicted they’d become “dead meat” if that were to happen. But the PNC made them an offer they COULDN’T refuse – because of their greed, of course. The 60/40 MP allocation and Cabinet positions “full their eye”.
Well, three years down the road – and many turbulent rivers crossed – the AFC have been told by the PNC to prove they’re not “dead meat”!! God does have a sense of humour!! Imagine, the poison pill demanding the victim prove it was ineffective!! The AFC demanded the same 60/40 split at the LGE – even though the PNC had showed them how meaningless that “split” was as far as having actual power was concerned!! And the PNC, not surprisingly, balked!
Your Eyewitness wasn’t surprised…after all, the AFC had never delivered on their side of the bargain – which was 10% of the Indian vote – reminiscent of Salome delivering John the Baptist’s head to Herod! Part of their problem was their purported major vote-getter in the Indian Community – Moses Nagamootoo – declaring before the elections he was no Indian!!
Anyhow, the PNC have demanded the AFC show them their “wares”. While folks may vote for different reasons in the LGE, as opposed to the national elections – that’s not the point the PNC want to prove. Since they – the PNC – figure they now have total control over the African Guyanese vote, all they’re looking for is to see whether the AFC can pick up any votes in the Indian Guyanese community. This is what the LGE does best, since the geographical constituencies are so granular!
So what’s the result going to show? “Dead meat” or no “dead meat”? Your Eyewitness has absolutely no doubt (he’s willing to take bets on this!) that it’ll be “dead meat”!! And being in that state for so long, it’ll be stinking to high heavens!! Let’s look at the facts. Firstly, some Indian Guyanese might’ve voted for the AFC – but because they were tired of the PPP. Incumbency fatigue and all that. But those voters will be asking themselves, “What did the AFC do for us in the last three years?”
Sugar workers? Even less than zilch – since the AFC didn’t even make a squeak when the PNC closed down half of the sugar industry! Rice farmers? They’ve gone back to the days of producing rice for export – at prices far below what the PPP had secured from the Venezuelans with PetroCaribe. The remainder? They’ve been embarrassed at the lack of testicular fortitude of Nagamootoo, Ramjattan et al.
Come November, prepare to hold your nose, dear reader!!
…on arrival?
Finance Minister Jordan has diplomatically proposed that Clive Thomas’s suggestion – that some cash from coming oil revenues be given to every citizen every year – becomes the basis of a debate on the issue. But he made it clear he himself doesn’t think much about the supposedly “senior” economist’s gambit. Several eminent persons have already bolstered Jordan’s position.
One was a PPP MP rather inelegantly suggesting Thomas’s proposal would cultivate “parasites”. Now, while the MP may have a point – as has been observed from the behaviour of those who’ve been receiving remittances from their overseas relatives – in politics, one can’t be so blunt. Just look at the flak President Granger took for suggesting that folks can’t get ahead if they expect to just lime on street corners or swig beers at “Guinness bars”!
But what Thomas didn’t explain was the money doled out in Alaska came from dividends generated by the Sovereign Wealth Fund. Citizens thus had an incentive that the SWF was managed most prudently.
And based on the Green Paper, boy does Guyana need prudence!!
…horse on presidential press conferences
President Granger just promised he’ll hold a press conference “soon”. Back on July 2nd 2017, he was even more specific – when he returned from the HoG.
But it took him five months!!
