…redux on PNC
Yesterday, your Eyewitness wrote about the commentators who insist they write with Platonic disinterestedness about Guyanese politics, studiously avoiding the blatant rigging of the PNC, but jumping on their soapboxes to call for peace and love in the streets. Today, we see their same wilful blindness about what or who has brought our country to this sad state, but now calling for “negotiation” between the PPP and the PNC!!!
Yes…negotiation!! And what should they be “negotiating” about?? How to bring the PNC into government!! Isn’t this something else?? But not really: the PNC have always been given a free pass by that crowd, and accommodation must always be made for them after their “bad behaviour”. But let’s look a little closer at what’s going on. Back in 2015, wasn’t one of the reasons the PNC “coalition” won was because they insisted they’d be sharing power – even with members of the PPP?
When instead of sharing, did anyone of these worthies stand on their soapbox and call the PNC out for talking from both sides of their mouth, when they ruled as if they’d gotten 100% of the votes?? And notice the PPP observed the rules of the game and left office. But hell: the PNC didn’t even share with their coalition partner AFC!! Did they then call for “negotiation” with the PPP? Especially when they’d barely scraped in with a margin that couldn’t even be described as wafer thin!!
When Granger went into the elections and boasted the PNC would be getting 37-40 seats, did the Pharisees call for him to “negotiate” with the PPP?? But here it is, now that the PNC was clearly losing by three seats, and the PPP must start negotiating so there can be “peace” in Guyana!! Well, from where your Eyewitness sits, that would be the “peace of the dead”. Like we see in graveyards.
After all, didn’t we see all of this before after the 1997 elections? The PNC disputed the elections results that were certified as fair by international observers…and forced the PPP to “negotiate” away two years from their term of office; 12 development projects for their “constituency”; power sharing with the PNC in Parliament; constitutional change to reduce President’s powers. What exactly did that get us??
The PNC continued their demands for power…and now show that they will do whatever it takes to keep it in their hands. We cannot reward this type of bullyism!! We have to first compel the PNC to accept the rules of the game they signed on to.
And let the SoPs fall where they will!! Then we can talk. Or it’ll be déjà vu all over again!!
…and Ramjattan
Fresh from the amazing success of his two “innovations” in policing – 2 am curfew at bars and dogs and horses in policing – in the last week Ramjattan continued with his stellar performance on the Public Security front. This time it was on to protect us from ‘external” threats.
First, he signed off on a request from Volda Lawrence – presumably acting in her capacity as health minister and not as PNC Chairman who only give PNC people “wuk” – to block Guyanese from coming over from Suriname between Feb 2- March 7. They had “intelligence” that corona-infected folks would be streaming over the Corentyne River then. The threat’s now over and the border’s been reopened. Whew!! Close call!! It had nothing to do with PPP supporters from Suriname coming over to vote!!
The second one was, acting on “intelligence”, to have three Russians coming in with “cyber equipment” expelled before they could hack our paper-and-pencil elections. When asked what his “intelligence” was, Minister Ramjattan replied, “Intelligence means intelligence.”
Which he clearly lacks!!
…and crowd control
Knowing they’d be rigging the elections, the PNC showed they were prepared for the reaction when they unveiled their special armoured vehicle for crowd control.
Part of Granger’s “Total National Defence” plans obviously incorporated a component to deal with pro-democracy protests.