THERE are a plethora of reasons to re-elect the coalition government and citizens can easily defend a decision to do just that. If you are concerned about the Guyana/Venezuela border controversy, you have to be impressed with the work completed on this issue by the government. If you hail from Leguan, you can easily point to the fact that you have experienced asphalt roads for the first time.

If you reside at Corentyne, Berbice, you can place your X based on your community being illuminated for the first time after decades by a government you may not have supported at the last elections. So what is the issue? Why do the above points have to be made and why is this writing heading in this direction? Guyana is not a homogenous society and tribalism is one consistent caveat that regrettable undergirds all things political in our society. Any analysis of the upcoming elections that is devoid of mention of this Colossus that bestrides the republics [is] incomplete.

Therefore, it is understandable that when political discussions are being had across the length and breadth of Guyana [sic].

President Granger’s Candidacy v Mr. Irfaan Ali’s Candidacy 
If you ask the children, they will tell you that Mr. Irfaan Ali is no match for the candidacy of President David Granger, not in any category. If Guyana were a normal society free of the ethnic card and tribalism, this would not have even been a contest. However, the British colonial masters’ decision to import multiple races to serve their economic ends has bequeathed us with this inescapable reality. It is for this reason and this reason only, there can be some nervousness about a possible Ali presidency, the tribal monster always lurks in this polity. This tribalism is not interested in the character of the leader or his policies, once the candidate is identified as a member of the tribe, he has assured support. The tribalist will argue, he might be facing several fraud charges, he might be inept, he might not have the most basic requirements to be President, but ‘he is we own’.

The Survival of the PPP and the tribal Monster
The People’s Progressive Party remains Guyana’s first mass-based party, founded on January 1st, 1950. This party has continuously been triumphant at the polls. The argument can be made that the presence of Dr. Jagan at the helm of this party coupled with the ethnic numbers, made this organisation an unstoppable political force. However, with the death of Dr. Jagan in 1997 and the subsequent destructive rule by successive PPP governments, the power of the tribal monster laid bare. PPP ministers boasted, ‘we have the numbers, we can do as we wish’. It took a herculean effort by a kaleidoscope of Guyanese political forces to challenge and be successful at defeating the indomitable rule of this ethnic-monolith in 2015. Even with all the unprecedented transgressions that would have banished any political party, in a normal society, to the dustbins of history, this organisation survives, albeit in a wretched Mafioso form. Racism is the only logical inference that can be deduced to explain the resilience of a party that has been complicit with wanton corruption, extra-judicial killings of its citizens and unrepentant arrogance with power. In any average society, such as an organisation would have disappeared, but not here; the spectre of sectarianism forever hovers over the Republic.
Constitutional Reform and the Tribal Monster

It would be remiss of this writer not to mention that some play with the verdict of the jury on the exact character of the nation and its people. There [are] two schools of thought that exist; some argue that there is a level of patriotism that exists in Guyanese that can propel them to ignore the visceral lure of racial obligation, they point to the success of the likes of the WPA and the AFC. Others argue that we doomed to our fate of being a nation forever haunted by racial insecurities. It is in this context, one should examine the debate on constitutional reform. If you accept the contestation of the former, then you may be tempted to think that there is no need for urgent reform. If you accept the latter argumentation, it is easy to see why constitutional reform is necessary. For all intents and purposes of this submission based on its general thrust, the writer is of the view that insofar as the tribal monster consistently bestrides the Republic, constitutional reform with safeguards to address racial insecurities would be the prudent way to go.