Dear Editor,
It is now the foregone conclusion of the masses in Guyana and the Diaspora that the Alliance for Change has long become subservient to the PNC-dominated coalition Government to the point of being totally consumed. The identity is completely lost. They further opined that the leaders, namely, Moses Nagamootoo and Khemraj Ramjattan have been relegated to “rubber stamps” status, merely regurgitating the views, utterances, opinions and policies of the PNC. We have seen numerous examples: when Granger illegally appointed Patterson as GECOM’s Chairman, when the four estates were heartlessly closed and when the PNC wilfully embarked on a course of violating the Constitution and flout the CCJ’s rulings among others. This is in stark contrast to the coalition in 1964 between the UF and the PNC.
Let us take a look at the first coalition which was formed between the UF and the PNC to oust the PPP from Government. The United Force was formed by Peter D’Aguiar on October 5, 1960, and won 16.38 per cent of the votes in the 1961 elections, but a point of vital importance is the fact that the elections were won by Dr Jagan’s PPP by a “slim majority” when compared to the totality of votes garnered by the UF and the PNC. This aroused the dictatorship instinct in Burnham and gave him the opening he needed. This “slim majority” by the PPP indicated that a coalition by Burnham and D’Aguiar could win if the electoral system was changed to proportional representation. The same mindset prevailed in 2015.
Then the manipulators, the UK and the US, gave Burnham exactly what he needed to begin his quest for absolute power – proportional representation just in time for the 1964 elections. This move saw the coalition of the PNC and UF, who together won 52.9 per cent of the votes. This resulted in Burnham getting the prime ministerial post and D’Aguiar, the Finance Minister as agreed. However, D’Aguiar was not a corrupted person, he was used to wealth and its accompanying opulence and in September 1967, he resigned from the Cabinet because of blatant corruption by the PNC faction. He became totally disgusted by the corruption of Burnham’s PNC. He even went further. In October 1968, D’Aguiar joined hands with Jagan and walked out of the National Assembly and in January 1969, D’Aguiar appeared in a documentary, “The Making of a Prime Minister”, in which he expressed deep regret and disappointment about coalescing with the PNC. But the damage had been done and it took more than two decades of suffering and anguish to finally rid the nation of the PNC scourge which he was duped to install. Ironically, the elections in 1992 was held on October 5, the same day that the UF was formed, and the PPP emerged victorious as it always did. However, D’Aguiar must be given full credit for making such a hasty departure from the PNC and his total rejection of that party and its leader!
Now let us look at the Alliance for Change which was formed in 2005. It was formed by three disgruntled members of Parliament who claimed that both the PPP and the PNC destroyed the socio-economic fabric of the country and cannot be trusted to be in Government. The people needed change, they claimed. The AFC’s message appealed to some and in 2006 it won 6 seats and in 2011 it won 7 seats or 10.3 per cent of the votes. However, the leadership of the AFC, influenced by the arch enemies of the PPP, Moses Nagamootoo and Khemraj Ramjattan, created an unholy alliance with the PNC, not spurred by change but by greed for power and material gains. Nagamootoo and Ramjattan saw an opportunity when the PPP gained a slim majority in 2011, not unlike the 1961 elections. After joining forces in the National Assembly to frustrate the Donald Ramotar Administration, the AFC signed the Cummingsburg Accord on Valentine’s Day 2015 and handed Guyana on a platter to the Burnhamite PNC.
Unfortunately, Ramjattan and Nagamootoo are no Peter D’Aguiar, these people are thirsty and greedy for power as well material gains and they made no effort to mask this as the coalition plundered and pillaged the Guyanese nation day after day. They immediately transformed themselves into the “fat cats” and began to live the “Cadillac lifestyles”, which Nagamootoo had vehemently advocated against. The AFC shamelessly forsook their founding principles and the “rubber stamps” were born on May 11, 2015.
Today, these two “rubber stamps” are vying for the title of “Best Rubberstamp”, but the caretaker President has made it clear that the AFC cannot select the prime ministerial candidate and that prerogative belongs to him. It now seems that the titles of First and Second Vice Presidents and prime ministerial portfolio will be snatched from the AFC and they will have to settle for the crumbs which the master would fling at them. Unlike D’Aguiar, the unprincipled and self-seeking duo, Nagamootoo and Ramjattan, is holding on to the PNC for dear life! They cannot depart in honour! It’s a shame to see how low some people can stoop – people who were once thought to be heroes of the people!
But time will dictate an ignominious and humiliating end for this duo who sold their souls and misled the people who unwittingly believed in them.
Yours sincerely,
Haseef Yusuf