Dear Editor,
The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) will soon celebrate one year of being in office. One cannot help but reflect on the journey that culminated in this victory. It all started when the PPP/C party lost the March 2015 general and regional elections.
Losing an election is never something easy, and we are well aware how devastating that was, not only for the party comrades, but for the committed supporters.
The leadership quickly garnered their equilibrium and formulated a strategy to regain power. The master politician Dr Bharrat Jagdeo stepped forward. He was successfully voted as Leader and General Secretary of the PPP/C at the congress held in Essequibo. He immediately reformed the party and started on the campaign trail with successful weekly press conferences.
He did that with great tenacity and heroism. He became even more popular within the party and the public at large.
Dr Jagdeo had the courage to face problems squarely, and to remove viruses that erode the party’s health. He kept strengthening the party’s ability to lead politically, to guide through theory, to organise the people, and to inspire and promote a fresh group of leaders – thus ensuring relevance, vitality and strong ability are forever maintained.
Subsequently, the Central Executive of the PPP/C voted, and Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali was elected leader with an 80 percent majority. Issues which arose were settled amicably. Then came the no- confidence motion and elections were delayed because of various mathematical interpretations by disgraced judges. However, the final court ensured that justice prevailed.
A new Chairman was appointed to GECOM, and a date was set for Guyana’s long-awaited national and regional elections.
Another hurdle had to be settled, and that is where we see the mastery of Dr. Jagdeo. Party loyalists, those with an opinion, and Opposition politicians were brutal and vile in their attacks on Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali. Some even predicted that the Government of that time would emerge victorious at the March 2, 2020 elections.
The General Secretary told Dr. Ali, “You must travel around the entire country and reach all of the people, and I will go on the political platform and sell your candidacy”, and how wittily, skilfully and successfully he did this.
Within a month of campaigning, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo had everything under control, the victory was in the bag, another five months of delays elapsed, but the rule of law prevailed.
Today, His Excellency President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali is championing the worries and concerns of all Guyanese locally and abroad. Everyone within the Central Executive of the PPP/C and the populace now realise that the choice for the party’s leadership is absolutely correct. The bureaucracy in the Government has dissolved, the lives and livelihoods of our people are improving, and everyone can see a bright future.
Duties and taxes on numerous items were removed, and not a cent from the revenue from the sale of our oil was used, but the Government under the leadership of His Excellency President Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali has distributed cash and vouchers to every household within the past year. In addition, thousands of young Guyanese professionals, brothers and sisters, have secured a house lot or a complete home from this administration, as the national infrastructure is being revolutionised.
As I reflect on the maestro, I wish to advise my longstanding friend Joe Harmon to be a responsible Opposition Leader, know that elections in Guyana are very close. Twenty-eight seats are guaranteed between the two majority political parties. The nine seats are what either has to work assiduously for.
Do as your predecessor did, and you will be better off.
Remember, losing an election is not at all easy, and five years will elapse quickly.
Respectfully,
Nazar Mohamed
