By Felicia Persaud
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Dec. 2, 2011: An embarrassing 72 hours after Guyanese voted in the South American nation, the country’s Election Commission finally released the results from the Nov. 28th poll, showing that nationals there are in for another five-year of rule by the Peoples Progressive Party/Civic, or to quote the Propaganda Press, “The PPP Crime Family, Inc.”
This will mean a total of 24-years of power by another one party, similar in many regards to the Peoples National Congress regime, which ruled for 28 years.
For those with better math skills than the country’s own GECOM (Guyana Elections Commission), that will mean Guyana will spend 52 years under the rule of only two parties, both of whom have only led to her ruination and made her a global laughing stock.
Let’s thank the Alliance For Change for this. They should hang their head in shame for allowing this through their small minded plan and failure to see the bigger picture and move beyond ignorance, race and selfishness. This is what has resulted in a Donald Ramotar Presidency. Thank you AFC! Not!
At the end of the day, if we’re to take the GECOM math at face value, had the AFC become part of the APNU in the run up to the election, then the electorate would have had two choices – a coalition or PPP/C.
Meaning the coalition would be taking the reins of power and sending the PPP/C boys and their 166,340 votes packing, with the support of a total of 175,011 voters.
Words cannot begin to express the disappointment that many are feeling right now, especially given the fact that for the first time in the history of Guyana, the country had come close to a national front government and a vote beyond race and the corrupt regime that’s kept it in a stage of non-development again.
The fact that 139, 678 Guyanese voted for A Partnership for National Unity, tells me that many wanted a change from one party rule and a balance of power.
It is unfortunate that the AFC missed the simple lesson that in any war, what matters most is victory. In this case – sometimes it is essential to merge with the smaller enemy in order to win over the larger one.
As Sun Tzu says: “We can form a single united body, while the enemy must split up into fractions. Hence there will be a whole pitted against separate parts of a whole, which means that we shall be many to the enemy’s few.”
I had hoped Walter Rodney could truly smile down from heaven and understand why he gave his life for country with a coalition win. Sadly that was not to be. Now, one can only take heart in the fact that Ramotar will be heading a minority government as the opposition parties control the parliament. It’s the one bright spot we can cling to in all this madness.
The writer is founder of NewsAmericasNow, CaribPR Wire and Hard Beat Communications.
