NOT just their critics but politically independent Guyanese must be wondering why the two Opposition parties, APNU and AFC, that formalised their pre-election ‘marriage of convenience’ last Valentine’s Day, continue to avoid a mass public meeting to share their plans for the benefit of their own supporters and people at large.

Their preference to date has been, first, for elements of the joint ‘leadership’ to engage in a private caucus in the rarefy atmosphere of The Georgetown Club to announce their anti-PPP electoral alliance with special focus on the presidential candidate – APNU’s David Granger – and his prime ministerial running-mate, AFC’s Moses Nagamootoo.

Then followed a press briefing on February 20 – expediently arranged to coincide with the birth anniversary of the late founder-leader of the PNC (the dominant partner of APNU). But neither Granger, the retired Brigadier of the Guyana Defence Force, nor his prime ministerial running mate, Nagamootoo, of the AFC, was present.

Yet another surprise is now scheduled for this Wednesday (March 4) when the APNU/AFC, political soul-mates for the coming May 11 elections, plan to officially launch their campaign.

Not, of course, with a customary public meeting for such political events, as Guyanese are accustomed to, but rather in the Savannah Suites of the Pegasus Hotel.

APNU’s General Secretary, Joseph Harmon, ex-GDF soul-mate of Granger, is quoted in yesterday’s edition of another local newspaper as saying that “everyone is enthused…The Guyanese people’s long wait for change won’t be a long wait anymore…”
A sober reality!
It’s such a pity that their acquaintance with the claimed knowledge of the “people’s enthusiasm for change” could not have been harnessed for announcement at a public mass meeting.

The reality is that for all the arranged support from their anti-government financial backers and media “friends”, the APNU/AFC are yet to offer a credible rationale for their political marriage of convenience that’s driven by shared hatred for governance by the PPP/C . That’s certainly NOT a realistic vision to further the economic, social and cultural progress of Guyana. The records are there to confirm the massive transformation that has occurred under democratic governance by the PPP/C.

Time will tell. For now, we await the outcome of the APNU/AFC scheduled meeting with the public on Wednesday.