Dear Editor,
There is no doubt that the Working People’s Alliance is a legitimate member of the Coalition Government, but after reading the party’s threats to perhaps walk away from the Government because of perceived maltreatment, I wonder whether its leaders fully understand what they are talking about.
I recall similar mumblings when Dr Roopnaraine had stepped down as Minister of Education sometime last year. The party had said then that it was not consulted on a replacement, and had fully expected that a leader of the party would have automatically taken Dr Roopnaraine’s place as a Cabinet Minister. This was not done, and its leaders had complained bitterly back then.
The Granger Administration must, however, take some of the blame for the way the WPA is feeling and seeing things. It is my firm belief that a system of ‘upfrontness’ with Coalition partners would go a long way in easing the feelings that the bigger parties have little regard for the smaller ones like the WPA.
No one really believes that the WPA would walk away from governance, with all the talk that the party is a mere shadow of what it used to be up to the time when its founder and leader, Dr Walter Rodney, was killed in 1980. Many observers also believe that the party would have brought very little votes to the coalition during the campaign, because I think that two generations of Guyanese would have grown up hardly hearing or knowing anything about the WPA.
I therefore think that it might be prudent for the leaders of the WPA to fight their battles internally, rather than in the press, as this can indeed harm the coalition. I also would argue that the latest public display of anger by the leadership team has to do with the decision by the management of the Chronicle Newspaper to dispense with the services of WPA leader David Hinds as a columnist, and the belief that this decision was made by high authorities.
The little I know as a follower and sympathizer is that the AFC also has its grouses, but, to date, has not made any comments similar to the WPA’s. I suggest the WPA take its lead from the AFC.
Sincerely,
Peter Joseph
