Dear Editor,
From all indications, it would appear that the leaders within the APNU/AFC coalition believe that conceding defeat in the March 2, 2020 Elections will effectively end their political career. It would appear that these individuals do not believe that they have in themselves the will to fight back and regain the confidence and the trust of the Guyanese people and be re-elected into Government.
True leaders never give up, and always are willing to fight back after facing defeat.
History is replete with great leaders in business and politics who suffered defeat and then used that defeat to learn and came back with greater resolve and ultimately triumphed.
Right here in Guyana, we can use the example of Dr Cheddi Jagan, who unfairly was removed from leading Guyana, and through several fraudulent elections kept in opposition for 28 years. Dr Jagan never gave up and was eventually triumphantly returned to power in 1992, returning democracy to Guyana.
If the coalition leaders don’t want to use Dr Jagan as inspiration, they can use the example of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln lost his initial bid to be a Senator, he eventually won after several tries. He lost several times in his bid to become a Congressman, eventually winning. He lost his first bid to become President.
He lost in his bid to become his party’s Vice-Presidential Candidate. Despite all these failures, Abraham Lincoln never gave up and he eventually became the President of the United States and is now arguably the most popular President they ever had and has gone down in history as one of the most admired persons in the world.
The leaders in the coalition can look at the successes gained by other persons after experiencing failures. Steve Jobs, Martha Stewart and even Donald Trump can be used as inspiration.
This is just to let the persons in the coalition who seem hell-bent to hold on to power, come what may, see that there is hope after defeat. Conceding defeat gracefully is the first step. Assess the reasons for your loss and work on correcting them and regaining your support. Be a responsible opposition, and like what the PPP/C did whilst in opposition, expose the failings of the new Government if your true interest is the representation of the Guyanese people.
I, therefore, call on the APNU/AFC coalition leaders, please accept defeat gracefully and don’t work on dragging the country down with you. Show your supporters how to rebound from defeat and be an inspiration to them, as opposed to continuing along the current path of undermining and frustrating the recount process.
This process has been and will continue to expose the fraudulent nature of the results (results being held onto by the coalition as the basis for its so-called electoral victory) declared by the Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo.
Yours truly,
S Greaves
