“We will fly our flags in and out of elections” – Teixeira to Opposition

…as APNU attempts to get party to downplay 32nd congress

In the face of a letter from Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton, which was critical of the fanfare accompanying the People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP’s) 32nd Congress, the party’s Executive Member Gail Teixeira on Saturday said her party would continue to display its colours and flags across the country at any time of the year.
She was at the time responding to a statement from Norton, who was condemning the PPP for hoisting its party flags at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) and on utility poles across the country. The flags are on display as the ruling party hosts its 32nd Congress this weekend.

The Opposition, in its statement, said the flags should not be displayed in such magnitude “outside of election periods,” and even more so at the ACCC, which is being used to hold Parliamentary sittings. However, Teixeira argued that the Opposition’s own practices were worse during their time in office, from 2015 to 2020.
“The Leader of the Opposition has brought out a statement, an official statement, saying that the PPP is violating the constitutional law and democracy by putting up our party flags on the Convention Center and outside and across the country. What nonsense! They got short memories!” she said.
“When the PNC flag hung over the Judiciary and the Guyana Defence Force and every ministry in this country, and you had to wear the party colours under Granger, you did not dare go with red to any public office between 2015 and 2020! How dare they?! We will fly our flags, we will fly our Guyana flags inside and outside of elections, because we are the true party of the people,” Teixeira said, adding that she wished the PNC luck and that the Opposition party has “real problems”.

In their statement, APNU accused the PPP of sending a message of party paramountcy, and of “weakening the fabric of society”. They further noted that outside of elections, the PPP cannot prominently display its flags, though it quoted no law against this.
Teixeira’s reference to APNU’s “real problems” are likely a reference to the infighting that has beset the main Opposition party in recent weeks. It was only recently that People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R) stalwart Amna Ally, a former Minister of Social Cohesion and former PNC/R General Secretary, came under attack after allegedly referring to the present leader of the PNC, Norton, as an “unfit leader” who was responsible for divisions in the party.
Norton is currently facing a leadership challenge from Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde, MP, behind whom Ally has thrown her support. In March, Forde launched his campaign to run for the leadership of the PNCR – the leading party in the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)-majority Opposition – at the upcoming Biennial Delegates Congress, where the party elects its Leader, Chairman, Vice Chairman, and 15 members to sit on its Central Executive Committee (CEC). (G3)