House to house registration: A ruse to steal (Pt 1)

Dear Editor,
The People’s National Congress (PNC)/A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) seems to be up to its old tricks again, as they try to prolong their stay in office. They are calling for a house to house registration to ‘cleanse’ the electoral list. This is the same tactic they used in the late 1980s to extend their stay in power. Recall that in 1988/89 using the pretext that they were responding to the popular call to have a clean list when they ‘agreed’.
However, they so deliberately messed up the list that it could not have been used for any elections. The elections which were due in 1990 was then postponed it took two years to correct. Elections were held in 1992. It was another two years in which the Guyanese people had to endure the corruption, incompetence and abuse by the PNC regime. Now we have heard the General Secretary of the PNC, Amna Ally suddenly proposing a new house to house registration. The reason given is the same as in the late 1980s; a ‘clean list’. Earlier, in 1973, they had tried to use a popular call by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) to facilitate the rigging of those elections.
After opposing voting at 18 since its formation, the PNC suddenly talked about giving the vote at 18. With their full control of the machinery they had planned to register huge numbers of under-aged persons.
The PPP foiled their plans. That forced them to rig massively and exposed themselves by having to use the Army to seize the ballot boxes and changed the people’s votes. When we consider all the issues, one can only conclude that this is not being done for any good reason. The PNC/APNU is up to its old crookedness. In the first place, the PNC/APNU already rejected such a call by the PPP/C after 2015 elections. They argued strongly that it was not necessary. At the budget debate of 2016, the PPP/Civic had asked why were they not voting funds for such an exercise. Their answer was that it was a very good list, not necessary. Now we are close to Local Government Elections, only months away and suddenly, like a thunderbolt coming from a clear blue sky, Ally is talking about new registration. National and Regional Elections are about two years away and they have pulled this trick out of their hat again. This is confirming all the suspicions that the leopard has not changed its spot. The plan is to first delay while preparing the rigging machine.
The idea is for them to get their hands-on money from the oil industry. They intend to splurge it around and to use that to try to boost their flagging popularity and tarnish image.
That plan was inadvertently exposed.

Sincerely,
Donald Ramotar
Former President