One of the fallouts of Nomination Day was the intensification of charges that the PNC was “divided”. The missing “leaders” for mobilising candidates and some who switched sides were manifestations. Now, while folks wearing red shirts might be gloating and rubbing their hands in glee, it’s not just the green-shirted section, but all Guyanese who should seriously consider what this implies, if not reversed.
Surely, even the most rabid red shirt understands that if their guys – in and out of office – aren’t checked, the human tendency to throw their weight around’s gonna become unmanageable! Happens in the family, in the village, NDC, RDC, Ministries, and even at the top! With democracy being the dominant form of government for about two hundred years now, it’s generally accepted that a solid opposition is a NECESSARY for accountable governments. So, it’s not that your Eyewitness is picking a side or any such thing – he’s rooting for a stable Guyana, in which he can enjoy some of the good things of life!!
So, what’s with the PNC? Their problem is they haven’t been able to select a leader to effectively fill Burnham’s shoes. Most of the blame is Burnham’s. He insisted on ruling as a dictator, which meant we wasn’t sharing no power with his underlings!! So when he unexpectedly passed on at an early age, his successor Hoyte had to use some pretty drastic measures to hold on to his position. The banishments, expulsions and demotions left the party quite factionalised!!
One influential fella, who dubs himself an “elder” – and saw himself filling Burnham’s shoes – still hasn’t gotten over his expulsion!!
But the biggest challenge for the PNC was being forced to admit that “the dictator had no clothes” when its friendly superpower stopped backing its rigging and it finally had to be wooing live bodies to be actually VOTED in!! Meaning, to finally begin to learn what it takes to be “democratic”!! In the decade in the Opposition after 1992, Hoyte seemed to believe that he could bully the PPP to give up power; but, good for the country, he failed. His successor Corbin was expected to continue in that vein, but – for reasons that still haven’t been fully ventilated – he chose democracy.
And committed political hara-kiri by stepping aside for the “kinder, gentler” Granger to actually return the national power – which he promptly threw away!! He lost the plot, that you can’t pi55 of folks who voted you in – especially when they aren’t from your “traditional” block!! And the PNC needs them more than they need the PNC!! Their present division is caused by the new incumbent leader still not appreciating that message fully!!
They gotta get somebody who does!!
…on Cleopatra’s origin
Well, as if we didn’t have enough tensions in the entertainment world, with Will Smith cuffing Chris Rock at the Oscars and the latter later dissing the former on his new comedy routine on Netflix, up comes an international brouhaha!! It’s all from Netflix’s upcoming docudrama, “Queen Cleopatra”, in which Britain’s Adele James, who’s of mixed heritage, plays Cleopatra! We all know the first-century Egyptian ruler was acknowledged as a great beauty, and was played first by Elizabeth Taylor. Well, to imply that she might’ve had African roots has sparked an uproar in Egypt!!
Egyptian academics are claiming that Cleopatra – born in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in 69 BC, in a Greek-speaking dynasty – was of European descent, and was not Black. An Egyptian lawyer has filed a complaint demanding that legal measures be taken to block Netflix outright in Egypt, to prevent the show from airing. The complaint claims the docudrama, which drops May 10, violates the country’s media laws.
So what happened to Egyptians being “Africans”?? Racism?? Oi vey!!
…no more on Eid!!
Well, it seems that, this year, there will be no disputes expressed in our letters’ pages on the moon sighting that signals the end of the month of Ramadan and the celebration of Eid-al-Fitr!!
