If delusional were a person, there would have been a fierce battle for the title between David Granger and Joe Harmon. During his term as President of Guyana, Granger was either mostly missing in action (MIA), or, whenever he surfaced, taking insane positions. Now, as the Leader of the APNU/AFC Coalition and Leader of the PNC in Opposition again, he has been totally MIA. The fleeting moments he has surfaced in the last year have been to make a couple of absurd, absolutely insane statements.
As for Joe Harmon, he has solidified his position as the worst Opposition Leader in Caricom, and the worst in Guyana’s history. He proves every day that he is clueless. The hapless supporters of the PNC and the APNU/AFC Coalition are shaking their heads and leaving. It is no coincidence this week that a senior member, Ms. McAllister from Region 3, left the PNC, joining a long list who have done so in the last year. It is no coincidence also that there is now a growing list challenging Granger for leadership.
Last week, in one of his rare occasions of surfacing, Granger insisted that APNU/AFC, as the Opposition party, is guaranteeing the Guyanese people the “good life”. Remember that in 2015 the “good life” was their election promise. For five years in Government, they kept promising the “good life”, but every day the Guyanese people looked for the “good life”, they only saw that it was for Granger and his Cabinet and high Government officials. The Guyanese people saw that Granger guaranteed the “good life” for his Cabinet and high officials at the expense of the ordinary Guyanese citizens, at the expense of workers, at the expense of the Private Sector. He did not deliver the “good life” as the President of Guyana, now he is guaranteeing them that APNU/AFC will deliver the “good life” from the Opposition benches. Yes, I heard your exclamation – delusional!
When Granger and his Government decided in 2015 that the first beneficiary of large salary increases would be his ministers, some with over 100% increases, the then Prime Minister told the Public Servants their turn would also come. Five years later, the Public Servants were still waiting for their increases. While Nagamootoo could only lie to the Public Servants that their turn would come, Granger’s justification for salary increases only for his cabinet and high Government officials was that it was necessary to prevent corruption. Imagine, Granger as President justifying giving his cabinet big salary increases, because he insisted that if he did not, they would thief. The result between 2015 and 2020 was that, for that period, Guyana had the most corrupt Government in our history. People were left with their mouths open in shock that Granger is living in some bubble, coming out from hiding to tell his supporters he would deliver the “good life” to them.
But what came out from his mouth next was so absurd that he shocked even his own supporters even more. He told the nation that the APNU/AFC is an even stronger coalition than it was when they started on Valentine’s Day 2015 and during the five years when they wielded unlimited power in Government between 2015 and 2020. His proof they are stronger – the coalition added two more one-person parties to the list of one-man parties that make up APNU. Jaipaul Sharma resigned from the PNC, formed a knock-off party from his father’s Justice Party (to be fair CN’s Justice Party is made up of a handful of people). Jaipaul Sharma’s party is called Equal Right Justice Party (ERJP) and it is another of the forgettable one-man parties that make up APNU. Then there is an APNU MP, Sarabo-Halley, who resigned from APNU, formed a party called Guyana Nation Builders Party (GNBR), or something like that, and then promptly joined APNU again. So, two parties – the Justice Party and the WPA – left the coalition, both literally with only a handful of members. Then two one-person parties formed by persons who are already members of the PNC have now joined the coalition. David Granger is insane if he thinks his coalition is stronger – it is the laughing stock of the nation.
But Granger’s delusional has made Harmon jealous, it seems. Harmon appears determined to prove he is more insane than his boss. After taking the Sputnik V vaccine – and he had a choice of which vaccine he wanted – he turned around to demand that Government suspend the deployment of Sputnik V because the vaccine is fake. He took his “fake vaccine” story forward after people ignored his advice not to take Sputnik V because it was too expensive. He made up some story why he believed that Sputnik V was fake. Then people laughed at him. Now Harmon has decided that the Sputnik V vaccines in Guyana are authentic and good vaccines, but the Government is not storing and transporting the vaccines safely. Each day Harmon opens his mouth, he sounds more insane.
So now the question in and out of Guyana is: who is more insane – the leader of the PNC, APNU and the APNU/AFC Coalition, David Granger, or the Leader of the Opposition, Joe Harmon?
