Now is not the time to mix partisan politics with a national interest issue

Dear Editor,
It is a dangerous game when you mix your politics with issues of a national nature. The opening sentence rings true when you talk about the PNC. Here we have a national issue of tremendous importance to us, that is, it concerns all of us and the PNC is mixing and moiling its own internal political crisis with it. This is a downright immoral and nasty act, to say the least.
Do not bring your dirty politics into matters of our nationhood. Our sovereignty is not a PNC or PPP/C issue it is a matter for all of us, it is an issue that is near and dear to the heart of all of us here in this country. To have such a delicate, yet highly important matter before us we seek a collective and unified approach.
Now is not the time to play cheap, partisan politics when in the face of aggression from a subtle neighbour. The PNC are notorious bandits when it comes to this kind of behaviour, something I shall reveal later.
The Venezuela, Guyana border issue is a prime example of this sordid behaviour of the Opposition PNC and none more despicable as was meted out to yours truly when doing my national service requirements in Port Kaituma. Three years after The Jonestown tragedy, I, a young University of Guyana student was sent to the Port Kaituma NS Camp to do a three-month stint of national work study. Midway between my stint there, Lieutenant Nichols informed us that we were in the reserved army to fight Venezuela, due to their imminent invasion of the Essequibo.
My alarm signals immediately went off as I questioned the officer’s remarks, thereupon, I enquired of an ex-army reservist in my batch as to the validity of that statement. His response to me was, that he being a reservist would have been the first to be notified (They use colours in the military to do this). He said the country is not yellow far less red to suggest an imminent invasion. Armed with such damning evidence, I approached Major Archer to tell of what I learnt. At first, he denied what Nichols said, however, in subsequent discussions he alerted me to the fact that whatever “The Kabaka” meaning Burnham said must be accepted unquestioningly.
I was still not satisfied with that answer so when Director Joe Singh came to the Kaituma Camp, I seized the opportunity to ask him the very same question. No sooner had I spoken to the Director General than ADG St Romain stormed in and scolded me in the loudest of tones. The next day I was banished into Jonestown with an armed guard. That armed guard left the very next day, after complaining that he was pricked by a nail and was leaving to get a tetanus shot. He never came back.
Even the civilian worker at National Service then was not there, was busily engaged ripping off materials to build his “nite spot.” I spent three more nights there without protection. On the fourth day, I mustered up the courage to make what would be the longest, hardest walk of my life, that is, to walk that long four-and-a-half-mile trek on a jungle road back to base. There were no humans in sight, only animal tracks, one of which was that of a jaguar.
My troubles did not end there in that Nichols gave me a talking to where he did not mince words, he flatly stated, that I should have been shot for my insubordination. I also shudder to think of what could have befallen me on that jungle road, I could have been eaten alive by the big cat, when on the morrow the headlines, from a highly censored media would have read, “Young UG student mauled by jaguar after he carelessly wandered into Jonestown all by himself.” The rest is now history.
But the point I want to make is that the issue was not Venezuela, the real issue was Burnham trying desperately to be relevant. These were the times when the lines for basic food items were a daily routine, as the lines lengthened so did the dictator’s propaganda.
These were the times when Guyana became the poorest of the poor, we were ranked below Haiti. I am not here to trivialise the Venezuelan threat, but to highlight the fact that Burnham was mixing his dirty internal politics with our national sovereignty. If he cared for us, he would have at least appealed to the UN which was the final arbiter, then.
Fast forward to the present time and the PNC is doing the very same thing, playing politics with our nationhood. Like Maduro, Norton is fast losing ground within his own party, and to shore up his hopes he is casting an accusing finger at the PPP/C Government for not doing enough when addressing the Venezuela border crisis. This is the lowest down-dirty blow the Opposition can bring to the table. I rest my case.

Respectfully,
Neil Adams