Make no mistake, Elections 2025 is a referendum on ONE GUYANA. Are we going to journey on the path of unity and ONE PEOPLE, ONE NATION, ONE DESTINY, or will we choose the Opposition’s divisiveness and racial division?
Unity has always been a dream for all decent Guyanese. The 1953 unity of the people, with Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham, has proven to be illusive. Cheddi never gave up on uniting our people; Forbes Burnham divided our people to gain power. This coming week, we will gather for the traditional Cheddi Jagan pilgrimage at Babu Jaan in Port Mourant. Cheddi’s dream, and his fight for unity among our people and for freedom and democracy, will be front and centre this weekend.
President Bharrat Jagdeo restored hope that Cheddi’s dream is alive. President Irfaan Ali has brought Guyana near the realization of the dream. The dream of, and aspiration for, One Guyana is not owned by any political party or individual. It is not a new goal being pushed by a politician; it is a national goal, aspiration and destination that has been in our psyche for decades. It is inscribed in ONE PEOPLE, ONE NATION, ONE DESTINY.
President Irfaan Ali is a formidable proponent of the dream. For him, the legacy of his presidency are the steps he and our country have taken to realize the dream left to us by our ancestors and those who framed the fight for freedom and democracy in our country. That the PNC finds ONE GUYANA on our new passport objectionable is evidence that Guyana has descended into tyranny and dictatorship, and provides self-evidentiary proof that the party has become totally clueless and totally devoid of any meaningful alternative to the PPP as elections 2025 stare at us.
Here is a challenge to the PNC and others: put your hands up if you are against unity, against us being ONE GUYANA. When President Irfaan Ali was sworn in, he promised to work diligently for ONE GUYANA. Testimony to the success of ONE GUYANA is the growing number of Guyanese rejecting alignment of race and political parties.
Elections 2025 are constitutionally scheduled to take place before December 1, 2025. President Irfaan Ali has reiterated that Elections 2025 would be held “not a day later than the constitutional deadline”, a view previously articulated by Guyana’s Vice President and PPP General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo.
Guyana’s 12th Parliament commenced sitting on September 1, 2020, almost one month after President Ali was sworn in. It therefore means that the Parliament must end no later than September 1, 2025 (exactly five years after it had commenced sessions). The Constitution provides that a period of no more than three months after this date the elections must be held. Both the President of Guyana and the GS of the PPP have been unequivocal that the elections will be held before the deadline.
Elections 2020 were held almost 12 months past the deadline. The PNC is known for wantonly disregarding the Constitution. When the No-Confidence Motion was passed in Parliament on December 21st, 2018, elections became due by March 20th, 2019. The elections did not take place until March 2, 2020, just short of a year later. When the elections were eventually held, it was only after many legal challenges and the CCJ having to intervene to force the Government to hold elections.
Before 2020, the PNC was last in charge of the scheduled 1990 elections. Those elections were not held until October 1992, almost two years later. It is a PNC “thing”.
Even as Elections 2025 are scheduled to be held before December 1, 2025, there have been speculations. Some have accused the PPP of planning snap elections. Both President Ali and VP Jagdeo have dismissed the possibility of Elections 2025 being a snap election. At the end of the day, it is up to President Ali, whose responsibility will be to dissolve Parliament, and GS Jagdeo, who has responsibility for preparing the PPP for elections, to decide when before December 1st to call the elections.
It is a little jarring that, with elections scheduled within eight months, those who have been charged with elections crime related to the March 2, 2020 elections are still going through the sloth of Guyana’s judicial system.
That there was an organized conspiracy to rig Elections 2025 is not in dispute. An internationally-recognized tribunal had concluded that the conspiracy involved GECOM senior staff and senior members of the PNC-led APNU/AFC. International observers, led by the Carter Center, CARICOM, the Commonwealth, the EU, the UN, and the OAS have affirmed this conclusion in their reports on Elections 2020. Police investigations have led to charges. But the judiciary has not been in any hurry to deal with this matter. In the meanwhile, those who have been charged with serious conspiracy crimes are walking free in Guyana.
But even more jarring is that the “champions” of rigged elections and constitutional violations in Guyana are professing their love for democracy and freedom. This past week, the PNC has led a chorus of criticism, deeming the use of the term “ONE GUYANA” on Guyana’s new passport as evidence that Guyana has descended into tyranny and dictatorship. What “BS”!
Truth is that the Opposition fear ONE GUYANA is an antidote to their plan to spread division and hate as a vehicle for grabbing power. They fear that if ONE GUYANA takes a hold, they would not be able to spread their “slo’ fyah, mo’fyah” craziness. But ONE GUYANA has taken hold, and the Guyanese people have put their hands up to state, “We want ONE GUYANA.”
President Ali and the PPP have been resolute, and have put the question to the Guyanese people. We either prosper with ONE GUYANA or sink with the Opposition’s call for polarisation.
