Well, as far as Elections 2025 are concerned, “boat gone a watah” with 10,481 members of the Disciplined Forces – Army, Police, Fire Service and Prison Service – voting yesterday. It’s our tradition that these Guardians of Guyana perform their civic duty of choosing their next government – and not so incidentally, their Commander-in-Chief – and vote earlier than us civvies because it’s their duty to deal with any contingencies that may arise out of the exercise.
Of course, back in 1973 – when the army was in its infancy – Burnham had them collect all the ballot boxes, take them to Camp Ayanganna and replace the ballots with new ones – all marked for the Palm Tree!! But, like the cigarette ad says, “We’ve come a long way, baby!!” and the Disciplined Forces have remained commendably neutral. About which democratic virtue they were reminded of by their Commander in Chief and their Chief of Staff the day before – in case anyone got ideas! In the first couple of elections after 1992, the Disciplined Forces’ votes were reported separately – and invariably were in the 90%+ for the PNC! The practice’s been discontinued, and their votes are now disaggregated and returned to polling stations based on their place of residence.
The voting exercise for the Disciplined Forces was identical to us civvies come Sept 1st. They’d been informed of their polling places, and upon showing up had to present appropriate identification that was checked off against the GECOM record – which even had their pic!! The parties’ reps were there to scrutinise the bona fides of the prospective voter, and only then would he/she/they (your Eyewitness wants to virtue signal that he’s quite woke, thank you!!) be given their ballot paper.
They were told to leave their phone behind – so they couldn’t show anybody else who they voted for by taking pics!! Those parties who’ve been “buying votes” will have to depend on an honour system – akin to trusting the cat to say it didn’t lap up the milk that disappeared!! Finally, the now vetted Force Member would’ve then taken the ballot paper to the voting booth where their privacy was assured!!
Following this – like everyone else, they’d have folded and dropped their ballot through the slot into the box, dipped their index finger into the pot of ink and marched smartly – well, they’re DISCIPLINED, aren’t they? – out of the room!! The overall discipline of the Disciplined Forces personnel in exercising their franchise should be a shining example for the rest of us plebs to follow, come Sept 1st.
So, we follow Granger and his coalition, who – after voting was completed on March 3, 2020 – swore how well our voting system works!!
…and continued betrayal
After President Trump deployed a powerful flotilla of warships and Marines off Venezuela’s waters – to show he’s serious about stopping the deadly river of drugs from that country into the US – under Maduro’s aegis, Guyana quickly reacted. Especially since Secretary of State Rubio also indicated that Maduro was threatening our oil production. Said VP Jagdeo: “The US has made it clear that anyone involved in drug trafficking or as a threat – that they see drug trafficking as a threat to the United States of America – that anyone involved in it would face serious consequences. And they made it clear, President Trump, on his campaign trail, that he’s going to do all that it takes to stop drugs flowing into the United States of America. In fact, we welcome it because we work in collaboration with them to stop this.”
The usual suspects Iran and China’s condemnation was expected. But ALBA’s – including Ralph Gonzalves and the OECS – was a betrayal we cannot keep overlooking!!
…intervention
During a strike against Chiquita banana operations in Panama, the company decided to fire 6000 striking workers. Already faced with 57,000 unemployed after a Canadian gold mining company pulled out after labour demands, Panama’s president condemned the banana union.
Pragmatism??
