…with PPP
After a year of fervent speculation – more by forces outside the PPP than inside! – after the CCJ determined third terms weren’t in sync with our Constitution, the PPP has elected the individual who will carry its presidential standard in the next elections. Which, the Constitution insists, should be three months hence!! That individual is the youthful Irfaan Ali, who’s been in the Party all his life, starting with the PYO.
In more ways than one, this is a new beginning for the PPP in that Irfaan will be the first leader who wasn’t personally groomed by the Jagans. Some may see this as a defect, but your Eyewitness sees it as a plus! The world has moved quite some distance, even after the Berlin Wall fell – signifying the jettisoning of the end of the “east-west” Cold War and all that meant for the Jagans. Irfaan would’ve grown up in sync not only with the leap in technology and connectivity which has generated a paradigm shift in politicking, but with the new globalised world that has emerged after the financial crash of 2008.
As expected, even before the PPP had made its choice, the guns were out for Irfaan – but as your Eyewitness signalled, this was because they saw him as their most formidable opponent. It was rather pathetic that their point of attack was on the young man’s “certificates” – but it betrays that they’re still stuck in the 19th Century and the 21st Century has passed them by. What’s with this fetish about certificates?? Did Bill Gates graduate from college? Burnham did have a London LLB and mimicked a British accent after spending only five years in London – and Lord did his supporters lap it up!! So much for being anti-colonial!!
Anyhow what did Burnham do with his certificate?? Destroy Guyana by every single measure, that’s what!! His slogan was “House, feed and clothe the nation”. But by the time he died, we were homeless, hungry and naked!! When Irfaan was chosen as Minister of Housing and Water, there were many who scoffed, just as some are doing again. But Irfaan launched a revolution in housing, by distributing the largest number of houselots to citizens not only in Guyana, but in the entire Caribbean. Plus turnkey houses!
Same with water…so much potable water was delivered directly to Guyanese that youngsters would want to know what you’re talking about if you complain about “fetching” water!!
Now, don’t get your Eyewitness wrong – he’s sure Irfaan isn’t perfect. But then only God is!! But if we go by his record, he has a good chance to prove his critics wrong.
Once again!
…with ANUG
Just as with Irfaan, there are many who scoffed at the principals who launched “A New And United Guyana”. And it wasn’t just about their party’s name and their “mango pelter” phone logo!! The complaint was that the fellas had TOO MANY certificates and not enough experience on the ground because of the life those with all these certificates are supposed to live!! This just goes to show that you can’t please everyone – so you might as well please yourself!
But your Eyewitness agrees with the criticisms in one (obvious) regard – the absence of even a single woman on the dais! C’mon fellas, in this day and age of gender equality, surely you’re going to have some problems convincing HALF of our electorate that you understand their perspective. Remember as Brother Bob says, only those who feels it knows it!! And for sure this criticism rings true about the similar absence of the “small man”, who, some had hoped, would one day become the real man!!
Anyhow, there are still three months to go…fill those lacunae!
…on national security?
The Police Commish cited “national security” for clamming up on a host of pertinent issues in the probe of Charrandas, after his boss, the Public Security Minister snitched on his ex-MP!
But the Minister clearly didn’t share the same concerns as he freely spilled his guts to the press!!