Back in the first decade of the millennium, the PPP Govt had to stave off an insurrectionary movement using a violent strategy dubbed “slow fyaah; mo’ fyaah” by PNC leader Desmond Hoyte. Well, that fire was eventually “outed” by several outside forces that more than matched the insurrectionaries’ firepower and ruthlessness!! In retrospect, more than anything else, the “slow fyaah; mo’ fyaah” forged then-rookie PPP leader Jagdeo into one tough cookie!!
Anyhow, since then the PNC’s been trying one stratagem after another to return to office to get their left hand on the lever of power – and, more to the point, their right hand in the cookie jar we call the “Consolidated Funds”! They exploited the lust for power and pelf of the hustlers in the AFC by suckering them into believing that Burnham’s army protégé Granger – as PNC leader – would be less Machiavellian just because he went to church!! In addition to kicking the AFC’s Nagamootoo and Ramjhaat in the teeth and onto the kerb, he went to the courts to claim the PPP’s no-confidence motion – backed by 33 MPs in a 65-member House – was not a majority!! Even though he’d become president with 33 MPs!! Your Eyewitness won’t mention the election-rigging attempt since that’s expected for any PNC politician!!
Anyhow, following in that not-so-grand PNC tradition of dirty politics – with two weeks to go for the Sept 1 elections, up comes Amazda Walton coming up with another “33-ain’t-the-majority move” to delay the said elections!! Now, dear reader, you might retort that Amanza ain’t PNC no mo’ since she was rigged out by Norton in their internal party leadership elections – and she’s representing her new baby party, the Forward Guyana Movement (FGM). But all this new manoeuvre shows is you can take the girl out of the PNC, but you sure can’t take the PNC out of the girl!!
Let’s first look at the reason why Amanza would challenge a GECOM rule that’s been in place since the constitution was changed in 2000 – and unchallenged to date. Surely, she knew that if she wasn’t able to collect the required 150 to 175 nominators for four geographical regions, she wasn’t gonna be on the top-up lists for those regions!! The rationale your Eyewitness understood behind that interpretation arguably might impinge on the clearly stated position that her party had complied with the six-regional constituencies rule!!
But why didn’t she raise the issue before?? And the answer is she’s just hoping to delay the election to give the Opposition more time to recover. But she doesn’t realise that her gambit just gives the PPP further evidence that these Opposition parties don’t really believe in the SUBSTANCE of democracy.
Just in cynical gamesmanship!!
…out Mad Maduro?
Even as Pres Trump’s brokering a peace for the Ukraine War, thankfully he’s been more than keeping an eye on Mad Maduro – who’s lusting for our Essequibo!! The Madman hasn’t been mad enough to actually invade us with his 150,000-man FANB – including a powerful air force with Russian fighter jets and a navy with a full complement of warships!! Let’s not forget he called out all three forces back in Dec 2023 when England had sent out a patrol vessel, Trent, on a routine visit!!
Well, Trump’s sending out a veritable armada to take out the madman who’s convicted of drug smuggling to the US!! Three guided missile destroyers – the USS Gravely, USS Jason Dunham and the USS Sampson – a submarine and other assets (including several P-8 spy planes). Plus 4,000 Marines aboard an Amphibious Ready Group made up of the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU)!!
How’s Mad Maduro’s 4.5 million militia gonna counter THAT??
…integrity
The Opposition’s been making a big to-do about corruption in the PPP Government. Fair enough. But are they willing to have all candidates – including theirs – file with the Integrity Commission, as do the confirmed ones?
Dare ya!!
