King Arthur and his Knights of the Roundtable spent their entire lives looking for the Holy Grail – said to be the cup that Jesus drank from at the Last Supper – supposedly it’d give them whatever they desired!! They could just throw back and yet have infinite wealth, eternal youth; or wine, women and song, all by possessing that cup!! Well, in Guyanese politics, the Holy Grail’s a Third Force!!
It gotta be – the way it’s been pursued!! In the beginning, there was one – the PPP! Then there were two – PPP (Jaganite) and PPP (Burnhamite), which soon became PPP and PNC. They represented the splitting of the country racially. And the search for the Third Force Holy Grail began – to force the biggies to work together for the “good of the people and country”. One was launched in 1960 by business magnate Peter D’Aguiar – but he was totally consumed by hatred for the PPP, so he really wasn’t the real deal!! His UF was soon swallowed up by machinations of the USA, and was used and then dumped by the PNC. Burnham then made the search moot when he started rigging elections – and dared the PPP to stop him!!
After a decade, the WPA was launched, but with continued rigging, they didn’t make a difference – as far as stymieing the PNC. But they showed that a Third Force might just be the vehicle to flip either the PPP or PNC. But came 1992, and the WPA collapsed like a supernova into a Black Hole – no pun intended!! And then there were two again; the quest for the Holy Grail resumed with a slew of aspirants for the role – which boiled down to the AFC in 2006. The Holy Grail was found – or so a whole lotta folks thought, based on the promises they’d made.
They’d be standing up for Guyana – and NOT for either of the PPP or PNC. Whichever one of them had an initiative that was good for Guyana, they’d support the idea – and not necessarily the party!! Sounded good, didn’t it? By 2011, they had the opportunity to put their money where their mouth was when the PPP squeaked into the Presidency on a plurality – and not a majority – in Parliament!! But sadly, they signalled their non-neutrality when their leader was made Speaker by the PNC (now APNU), and they moved in sync with the latter!! They went the whole hog in 2015 when they coalesced with the PNC, and the two won the elections.
But the ideal of a Third Force was damaged when they accepted being the PNC’s doormat – because of the lure of lucre!!
Ain’t gonna be no Third Force soon!!
…of mature politics
The difference between politics between nations and WITHIN nations – we’re told – is that, in the latter, the rules of the game in the struggle for power are agreed upon, typically in a Constitution that everyone has signed on to. In the former, notwithstanding the UN organization, nations are still free to do as they please – as is happening in Ukraine!! But what happens when one or more of the parties INSIDE a country refuse to follow the constitution??
Well, typically, they don’t ever say they’re REFUSING TO FOLLOW the Constitution. They pretend to “interpret” the particular clause they’re violating for their own benefit, and go to the Courts – which are constitutionally authorised to settle such matters. And this is what happened recently when the President appointed an acting COP on his own, because there was no Opposition or Police Commission in place to consult, as is constitutionally mandated!!
The PNC went to Court, and their claim was thrown out as “vexatious” and a waste of the Court’s time!!
…of a roof over every head
During the Great Depression, US President FDR promised Americans “a chicken in every pot”. Looks like our own President Ali – a former Housing Minister – is promising a roof over every head!!
And keeping it!!
