Dear Editor,
Many moons ago, I predicted that the Coalition, which is primarily made up of the PNC, would die a natural death, since it can no longer mask its intent to destroy this country in its bid to wrest power from the PPP. I further wrote that, “They cannot continue to shout marginalization and discrimination, since their own supporters are seeing the truth. No doubt, the APNU/AFC is the sinister architect of marginalizing and impoverishing their own people”.
The old corruption and marginalization mantra will not work. “Blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear” (Holy Bible).
How can the PNC and the AFC continue to lie and deceive their supporters, and expect them to remain faithful? The Coalition had begged the Guyanese people to give them a chance, and they were given that opportunity to serve them in 2015, and they totally squandered that opportunity. The cronyism, corruption and mismanagement of the economy reached unprecedented heights, and the country was heading for a replica of the Burnham dictatorship.
They gave themselves humongous salary increases to remove the ‘temptation’ to steal, they claimed, but they did in a big way. The first money received from Exxon (US$18 million signing bonus) was deftly diverted, and was subjected to an intense investigation to determine its existence. It’s anyone’s guess what would have happened had our oil wealth fallen into their oily hands. I can imagine mansions, palaces, Rolls-Royce and Bugatti; luxurious yachts, private jets, and exotic pets, which would have made even the Sheikhs of Dubai and Saudi Arabia envious.
Moreover, they spent five long months attempting to rig the 2020 elections utilizing various old and new PNC tactics. Today, they want Guyanese to believe that the PPP/C rigged the 2020 Elections. They failed miserably in their rigging, but that blatantly exposed them to not only their own supporters, but to the world at large.
I can recall that when the PNC’s abhorrent deeds are narrated to young Guyanese, they seldom believe, and received those historical facts with varying degrees of skepticism. Fortunately, they had a first-hand view of what the PNC is capable of during the Coalition’s term in office, and their rigging propensities. As Dr Jagdeo aptly put it, “they attempted to steal a whole country”.
Today these youths are convinced, and our people do not pledge blind allegiance to any political party; the party they voted for must deliver on its manifesto and promises to the people. The Coalition never did deliver – just as the PNC of old.
From August 2020 to date, this PPP/C Government has delivered in excess of what it promises the Guyanese people. The PPP/C’s socio-economic programmes do not make exception to any race, class, or ethnic grouping, and supporters of the PNC and the AFC are not blind to this fact. President Ali’s One Guyana initiative is not mere vacuous rhetoric, but his government is meaningfully pursuing its major objective of uniting the Guyanese people. The magnitude of this effort is unprecedented, and is greatly successful.
Therefore, the shifting of former PNC and AFC supporters to the PPP/C is not accidental, but the consequence of what PPP/C has delivered to the Guyanese people. Why insult these Afro-Guyanese brothers and sisters and insinuate that they were ‘bribed’? One social media post stated that they were given $140,000.00, but had to provide proof in the polling booth by snapping photos who they voted for. This is a gross insult to these people, who have made their educated choice based on their own evaluation.
One letter writer went as far as to speak about “tradition of good politics” and “sacred line that even Jagan or Burnham did not cross”. What ‘tradition’ and what ‘sacred lines’? Burnham never respected any sacred line when he rigged his way into office from 1968, and impoverished the Guyanese people. The PNC never respected any so-called tradition when high profile PPP members such as Ranji Chandisingh and Vincent Teekah and others crossed the floor. Teekah’s murder is still an unsolved mystery.
Today, when members of the PNC are embracing the PPP in huge numbers (not 10, as misstated by the letter writer), they are attacked and condemned in the vilest of terms. The PNC should know that they cannot fool all the people all the time. Time has caught up with them.
The PPP/C has reached out to the people, and the people are reciprocating. I could recall that, at one of the President’s Outreaches, an AFC Executive member was stunned when he saw the huge number of PNC and AFC supporters who were there, and he told me there and then that the PPP/C would sweep the polls, since it has the Midas Touch. And they will, not only at the LGE, but in 2025. The days of partisan politics are over: either deliver or be kicked out.
Yours sincerely,
Haseef Yusuf
