‘One Nation’ slogan is latest PNCR window-dressing

OLD Kai is now convinced that David Granger has reached the point where he is better off riding into the political sunset. He more than ever comes across as a man who lacks conviction, a man who does not believe his own words, and a man who is constantly embarrassing himself and party by undermining the very ideals he promotes.

Even within his own political setup, it appears that members simply tolerate him; he is not taken seriously, as could be observed when he was addressing a virtually empty Congress Place at the opening of the party’s recent Congress.

For this current predicament, he has no one else to blame but himself, as he simply cannot seem to hold a straight line on any issue. Let’s take, for example, a Kaieteur News article on August 2, 2014 titled, “As PNC/R remains divided…Granger holds on to ‘One Nation’ dream.” He was quoted as saying that despite the divisions, he was focused on his ‘One Nation’ dream; and we are told that he has proposed this approach to solve Guyana’s crisis.

Granger of all persons should know that the only crisis in Guyana currently is the PNC/R’s leadership and how that has translated to its destructive politics at the national level.

Naturally, we would assume that Granger would start here with his ‘One Nation’ mantra as an indication that he is genuinely committed to the ideals he is now promoting; but that is not the case if we are to go by the Kaieteur News report. When asked if he was committed to bringing back veteran party members to aid his mission, his terse retort was that the party has mechanisms to do so.

Mr. Granger should tell us if those mechanisms are similar to what is currently being applied to Vanessa Kissoon, the PNC/R Linden Member of Parliament. It should be bourne in mind that anyone truly committed to national unity would obviously have to adopt a more flexible, humble, approachable ability to reaching out, and a compromising mindset in tackling the complex issues and demographics of society, as is so evident in current President Donald Ramotar.

Granger is quoted as saying that he does not necessarily plan to reach out or invite them (PNC/R stalwarts) back to the party.

If Granger is not willing to adopt a conciliatory posture in dealing with his own party members, why should we believe that he is committed to such a stance at the national level?

We are then reminded that Granger’s ultimate plan is to “…push the PPP out of office”, as he urged his party members to let them ‘fight’ the PPP, and not one another.

Once again Granger contradicts himself, as his calls to ‘fight’ the PPP are not in sync with his earlier contention that his ‘One Nation’ plan promotes consensus in achieving national goals.

His efforts at riling up party members to get them to ‘fight’ the PPP were evident in his attempts to lay blame for the Congress Place confusion at the doorsteps of the ruling party.

Members were also told that the gunman at Congress Place who had put their lives in danger had somehow belonged to the PPP, which shows the dangerous levels to which the party’s leadership would stoop to mislead its own supporters, simply to get them to do its bidding. After the individual was caught, the PNC/R suddenly began defending his actions.

In conclusion, while these incidents unravelling at Congress Place have served to reinforce, for many outsiders, the general perception that the PNC/R=APNU is ‘the same ole’ under Granger, they have been an eye opener for the party’s supporters, who now have firsthand experience of being misled and then knowing the truth — that their leaders have continually lied to him and then sought to demonize the PPP.

Many have witnessed how their colleagues have been verbally and physically abused by their party’s own leadership, and, not surprisingly, they have lost trust in that leadership, which is something that can never be repaired.

That is the reason why Granger was speaking to empty chairs at Congress Place, and this is the reason why I am maintaining that the time is now for him to ride off into the sunset.

As for his ‘One Nation’ semantics, he should tell us the fate of the ‘New Nation’ and all the other political banners that party has tried unsuccessfully to wrap around itself. The simple truth is that that party is not genuine about the causes it promotes; therefore, come next Congress, we will be treated to the unveiling of yet another slogan or name change, to mask all that party’s failings as its leaders pretend to be something they are not.

National Unity has never been the forte of the PNC/R leadership. Throughout the history of the PNC, its leaders have been the source of divisions within our society, and David Granger is no different.