Desperation or ‘Unity’ – Jagdeo questions opposition’s credibility

With General and Regional Elections approaching, many members of the opposition are clamoring in a fit of desperation to regain relevance once again, in time for E-Day. These sentiments were expressed by Vice President and General Secretary of the People’s Progressive party (PPP), Dr Bharrat Jagdeo.
Speaking at his recent party press conference on Thursday at Freedom House, Robb Street, the Vice President questioned the believability of some of the tactics of the opposition.
Most recently, as Jagdeo pointed out, there seems to be a sudden projection of unity among the party factions; factions which were birthed during the recent internal elections of the main opposition party, the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R).

“To believe today that the party is united, [especially when] it’s the same racist you have gone back to… the racist who has converted the PNC into a racist organisation; you have to [have done] this out of desperation… how can you now tell the people of the country to vote for a racist?” he questioned.
Jagdeo, a Department of Public Information (DPI) report stated, made reference to specific examples where opposition members have publicly displayed disunity and are now trying to portray a different narrative to the public.
“Roysdale Forde is on record as saying that Norton is racist and the People’s National Congress, under Norton, will be a racist organisation. He said he withdrew from the race for the leadership of the party, claiming corruption in the [process] and also that it was rigged,” Jagdeo reminded the DPI report noted.
The thing that made this example unique, Dr Jagdeo pointed out, is the fact that usually, antagonistic views of the opposition are expressed by either lower-level party members or outsiders, but this time, the accusations came from a senior member.
“This is not like somebody who was critical of them. He was an insider. It’s not like [it] was somebody on the other side, because sometimes people criticise each other… this was an insider,” VP Jagdeo stated.
The other contender
Jagdeo further reminded that another former contender for the party leadership had come forward in support for a fellow party member who had accused the opposition leader of attempted rape.
This egregious accusation drew national attention and created even further division among the opposition members.
Jagdeo used this example to highlight how hypocritical it would be for the once contender and champion of the rights for fellow party members to now come out in support of the opposition leader.
“So if you believe that one of your fellow female activists said that he (Norton) attempted to rape her, and you called for an impartial investigation and nothing happened, then you’re gonna have a hard time selling his leadership,” Jagdeo is quoted as saying in the DPI report.
The vice president also noted that the issues among the members of the party are too major to just skim over in an attempt to fool the voters.
“When they talk about this so-called ‘unity’ and ‘there is no major problem.’ There is a major problem now because this is on record and how could you credibly say that you support all of this,” the VP questioned.