Dear Editor,
Two hundred and seventy-eight days after the successful passage of the No-Confidence Motion, out-of-time caretaker President David Granger has once again made a temporising statement; Granger has dangled the ‘carrot’ of an election date in the hope that the People’s Progressive Party will return to Parliament on October 10, 2019 and extend the life of his as-of-now illegal administration.
The PPP has a stark choice before it: principle versus expediency. I am firmly on the side of the principled stand taken by the PPP. We may not get the “earliest possible date of 2nd March, 2020” but that is the cost of abiding by the principle of rule of law. Granger knows that there is no need for life of Parliament to be extended, save and except to make the actions of himself and his administration legal retroactively. When Granger said “Guyanese, we are on the right path to preserve our precious parliamentary democracy”, he had no idea how right he was, the PPP must be commended for not jumping at the carrot and granting succour to a usurper and a slew of corrupt actions.
Granger will still face pressure to announce a date for constitutionally due General and Regional Elections from the People’s Progressive Party at every turn. Inevitably, that date will be announced, then, cue the lights, cameras, action and of course, the plethora of political parties entering the fray.
Conspicuously absent on the front lines during this period when the Constitution of our nation is being trampled by David Granger and his cohorts, these parties— comprised of armchair activists— will ask citizens to vote for them. Their big marketing point is the promise to represent the ‘middle’; their main weakness is that they represent small groups of hustlers who hope/aim to enrich themselves by becoming power brokers in the event no party gains a clear majority.
These parties lack the capacity to govern, nor do they, from all evidence available, want that responsibility. What they want is the power of being the weight that tips the scale, kingmakers on every decision. They lack principle or guiding morality; much like Granger and his APNU/AFC, they simply sell inexperience as a positive rather than the clear negative it represents.
A vote for these wannabe ‘power-brokers’ is a vote for corruption, for though they may sell themselves as idealists with ‘power-sharing’ ‘shared-governance’ ‘Constitution reform’ and/or ‘ethnic balance’ as their platform, many have never read the Constitution or have knowledge of the documents 192 amendments made under the PPP.
One new group of opportunists has taken to a ‘Whisper-by-WhatsApp’ campaign to sell the idea of a completely new Constitution. The obstinacy and disrespect shown by the current executive are used as the excuse for offering this as a viable course of action. It is akin to throwing your shoe away after stepping in dog excrement, an act available to the unthinking rich, the constituent that group hopes to attract.
Granger’s administration also made a play with false promises to attract voters, including the ludicrous claim that a paved road from Linden to Lethem was a “promise kept”. Granger’s cabal bought itself an extra year by delaying a constitutionally due election in an attempt to convince the electorate of its viability, the hope was that they could shower the populace with gifts and goodies; it is a stunning indictment of APNU/AFC incompetence that they have failed even in this scheme.
David Granger has only himself to blame for his status as a usurper; he willingly perpetuated a farce on the citizens of Guyana and cannot be granted reprieve or succour that an extension of life provides. Granger knew where the ‘red line’ was and boldly crossed it, he must make his way back under his own steam for what little redemption (if any) awaits.
The PPP holds the line against the siren song of the usurper, and must demonstrate that no matter what the cost, the principles enshrined in our Constitution must never be discarded for gains afforded by expedient actions.
