Dear Editor
YOU as well as many citizens who are avid readers, politicians, students of Political Science et al would know that one of the best known and most influential political works of all time was written by Niccolo Machiavelli in 1532. In his classic, the Prince, Machiavelli, exalts power, success, image and efficiency above loyalty, faith and honesty. According to Machiavelli, lying is okay if it accomplishes a political end.

Obviously, the most casual observer would discern that the current leaders of the PPP/C are using Machiavellian techniques at their political rallies to woo voters with lots of lies and glad tidings to vote for the PPP/C at the General and Regional Elections that are around the proverbial corner.

A good case in point is the recently held political rally in Linden where executive member Juan Edghill in his address accused the APNU+AFC government of “closing down the Kara Kara Call Centre.” Contrary to popular belief, the prime ministerial candidate Mark Phillips said he was born in Linden; according to him, the PPP/C “pumped a lot of financial resources into Linden between 1992 and 2015,” among other lies. The General-Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo spoke about “the new housing scheme of Amelia’s Ward Block 22 which was constructed by the PPP/C, the building of a new hospital, among other lies. Remember the then President Jagdeo, sometime in 2013,had said that he had a tape in his possession to show that the PNC was involved in criminal activities at Buxton. Additionally, he opined that he knew the identities of those in the PNC and of the armed bandits who were involved in kidnapping, drug smuggling, murder and armed robbery and he would make the information public. After eight years, he is yet to make the information public. The presidential candidate Irfaan Ali said this government did not add a single new houselot, did not distribute land titles, or built no new health centres in Region 10 since 2015, among other lies.

However, the Guyana Chronicle dated January 20, 2020 page 11, “PPP holds rally in Linden” highlighted the evidence that gives the lie to Edghill, Phillips,Jagdeo and Ali’s false statements that the APNU+AFC Administration did nothing for Linden, but only the PPP/C did while in government for 23 years.

Without a doubt, only someone who is blind and deaf or who lives on a different planet; or someone who has a bias against this government would believe the PPP/C, as well as those Machiavellians who were in the closet prior to the on-confidence vote, when they uttered their wicked lies. In retrospect, the NCV was the best bad thing to have happened on December 21, 2018.

Altogether, some politicians are wont to tell some sections of the population to forget the past; how could mothers forget the brutal repression and arbitrary arrest and detention of their teenage sons, forced disappearances, an administration that stole from the people and never cared about the country, only its benefits. Those of us who are unable to catalogue the atrocities that were committed during the troubles are doomed to a repetition of the same. The past always has a way of returning. It would be at our peril to forget the period of absolute state-sponsored lawlessness and return the PPP/C to power with puppet Ali and his puppet master Jagdeo managing the affairs of this country for “20, 30, or 40 years,” according to Jagdeo. A puppet ruler is a person who has a title indicating possession of political power, but who in reality is controlled by outside force. Such outside power can be exercised by a foreign government, in which case the puppet ruler’s domain is called a puppet state. But the puppet ruler may also be controlled by internal forces.

Regards
Julius Williams