THE past week for many Guyanese was a chance to invoke a pause of sorts – an undertaking helped along by the Holi festivities – with the expectation that political campaigns will kick into overdrive, 64 days away from the polls and with campaign launches in the air.Unveiling its brand new logo, campaign slogans and charges from its prime ministerial and presidential candidates, the coalesced A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and Alliance For Change (AFC), last Wednesday, officially kicked off its campaign for the 2015 General and Regional Elections at the Pegasus Hotel.

However, the political atmosphere is tinged with expectations for a rally-type launch from the alliance, as well as the speculations on the official launch of the incumbent’s campaign.
Notably, at the official introduction of the alliance, witnessed by supporters across the spectrum of the seven political parties in the coalition fray, the charge by its presidential candidate, Brigadier (rtd) David Granger, stirred concerns in some spheres.
Urging supporters to vote for the coalition come May 11, Granger warned, “Life in Guyana could become more nasty and brutish,” if the PPP were to be returned to office.
According to him, “We declare, today, that the APNU+AFC coalition will adopt a unified approach.”
This, he said, was meant to bring an end to the alleged cronyism at high levels practised by the current Administration, to crime, to widespread corruption in the law-enforcement and regulatory agencies in the mining and forestry sectors, and to constitutional abuse by the President, Cabinet and executive branch of the Government.
Describing the PPP/Civic administration as backward, deaf and one that refuses to invest in its people, Granger vowed that the coalition would stand unified in its purpose of extricating the PPP/Civic Administration from office.
What has also been noted is that concern has characterised a major move in the lead- up to the May 11 General and Regional elections.

DEFINED AGAINST POLICIES
Political players, including the smaller parties, in the last three years as well as recently, have defined themselves against each other, as well as against the policies and legislative moves of the incumbent People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C).
However, in the days until the most consequential election in the history of Guyana, the focus is on the politicians – the spotlight being placed on them by the youth in particular.
The pressing question now is, whether or not political parties, in particular the two major contenders, will manage to define themselves against their party policies and platform for progress.
By the end of the campaigns, what will the electorate be told by the political parties? What will be the defining moment in the campaigning?

The manifestos – the roadmap outlining the vision for the next five years – from the major political parties are still to be launched.
Another point of note is the fact that new issues – legalisation of marijuana, gay rights, and others – are emerging, begging a place for consideration by those bidding for the nation’s leadership.
Political observers have underscored the fact that the parties’ manifestos will be a significant indicator of whether the political parties have managed to shift gears to their advantage.
In the meantime, Granger’s contentious comment – “Life in Guyana could become more nasty and brutish,” if the PPP were to be returned to office – has been met by a maintained level of confidence by the incumbent.
Responding to other similar expressions by leaders within the alliance, General Secretary of the PPP, Clement Rohee, insists that “They have to win the elections first.”
At a prior news conference he said too that, “There is only one party that could deliver this beautiful nation out of poverty and want based on a proven track record of progress and good governance. That party is the PPP/C which, come May 11, under the leadership of Donald Ramotar, will continue to elevate this country to higher levels of progress and prosperity.”

CALLS MADE
Political observers have also taken note of the calls for questions to be answered at the level of the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry (CoI).
These questions surround the 155 Guyana Defence Force (GDF) weapons that went missing during the 1970s and 1980s, which Dr Roger Luncheon insists that the army is actively engaged in trying to locate them.

Speaking during his weekly post-Cabinet press briefing last Wednesday at Office of the President, Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS) stated that the GDF has been given a mandate by the Defence Board and Cabinet to address the issue of the missing weapons.
“The Guyana Defence Force has been given a mandate by the Defence Board and by the Cabinet to be involved in each and every instance where weapons, similar, if not identical to the ones that have gone missing, are used when they are discovered….they have a mandate to get involved and re-acquire these weapons,” he said.
The HPS noted that all efforts have to be made to get the weapons out of the hands of criminals, and return them to their rightful owners.
Dr Luncheon pointed out that the weapons turned up during the crime wave of 2002, which rocked Guyana.
“These weapons turned up in the hands of criminals…that is when the questions started to be asked,” he said.
Some 200-odd weapons were loaned to the PNC’s Ministry of National Development and to date 155 are still missing today.
Granger and APNU General Secretary, Joseph Harmon, are the two names that have been referred to in the call for answers. Both men served in the GDF during the 1970s and 1980s.

COMING UNDONE?
Links to those years were defended by AFC Leader, Khemraj Ramjattan, last week – another point of note.
He has come in for serious flack for defending his party’s alliance with APNU. What seems to be his undoing is his basing his defence on the argument that persons currently in the party are not the ones who participated in such unsavoury practices in the past, such as the rigging of elections.

“I think that Mr Ramjattan attempting to whitewash the history of Guyana and trying to make it into ethnic politics is extremely and extraordinarily deceptive,” said Presidential Adviser on Governance and political stalwart, Ms Gail Teixeira in a prior interview.
Responding to the assertions which were made public via an article in the Stabroek News, headlined: ‘No alliance could have been end of AFC – Ramjattan says it’s time to move beyond PNC history,” Ms Teixeira went on to say that Ramjattan just might be suffering from a bout of amnesia.
“He seems to be suffering from amnesia or from some senior-citizen moments, because he went on to say that those persons in the APNU now were not associated with rigging…there are key persons in the APNU now who were around in those days,” Teixeira said.
She was most emphatic that try as he might, the AFC leader just cannot wish away the past. “It is particularly deceptive of Mr. Ramjattan to try to wish away the past,” she said.
Teixeira took her reproof of the AFC Leader a step further by naming names, including the names of those who hold top positions within APNU, such as Granger and Harmon, as well as Messrs Robert Corbin, Carl Greenidge and Basil Williams.
Stressing that the foregoing persons are but a few of those who were associated with the very unsavoury practices of the past, Teixeira said:“I am just naming five people who are presently in the APNU; presently in the leadership of the PNC, who were all associated and knowledgeable of that era and of what went on.”

She made it clear that history speaks for itself, and these are facts that the Guyanese people have not forgotten.
“The rigging of elections affected all Guyanese; the right to choose a Government was stolen from us, and by persons who wanted to hold power at any cost,” the Presidential Adviser said.
Fast forward to the present, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is tasked with protecting this right.
In the last week, the body has completed its Claims and Objections period with: 45 of 416 objections upheld; approximately 6,375 transfers, due to issues related to change of addresses, etc.; 3,904 new registrants; approximately 1,646 changes and corrections to existing registration information; 1,681 replacements of identification cards requested; and 634 retakes of photographs.
Once GECOM’s fingerprint cross-matching exercise, relative to the new registrants, is completed, it is expected to publish the Revised List of Electors (RLE), which is likely to be done by March 16. After that, the Official List of Elections (OLE), which will facilitate voting on Elections Day, will be completed, likely by April 13.
The GECOM Chairman, Dr Steve Surujbally, told the Guyana Chronicle yesterday that the Commission’s work programme is moving as per schedule. “Our work programme is in step,” he said.
In the days ahead, Guyanese voters have much to look forward to, as the unfolding of events will make for an interesting two months.