IT has been reported that a group within the PNCR is calling for the postponement of the 16th triennial congress scheduled for this week end. This is a serious development of national proportions and should be closely followed.

There are reports that some candidates for the leadership of the PNC are expressing grave doubts about the transparency of the upcoming leadership contest. Specific concerns are as follows – (1) that the membership list is flawed because of padding through inclusion of non-financial members, and of persons who have no connection to the PNC; the names of dead persons are apparently on the list as well; and (2) that candidates do not have sufficient access to the said membership list, and as a result, there is not sufficient confidence that the list is indeed clean (see Guyana Chronicle, August 17).

Guyanese should be deeply concerned about this development because the PNC is the main opposition party. If this skullduggery persists, the PNC would lose its ability to represent its constituencies with any moral integrity.

Worse yet for the party, this would allow the AFC to again claim that it is the main opposition, a claim that is preposterous at the moment.

The PNC should be extremely careful about these matters because of its long legacy of rigged elections. I would grant that at times these practices of rigging were done with some finesse and sophistication, but for the most part, it was the rigging that was transparent above all else.

Many folks in the PNC (and for that matter the AFC and WPA) think that it is a red herring to bring up the PNC’s mastery of rigging elections, but the issue is still pertinent. Here is why. How do you entertain any kind of discussion about governance with a party that refuses to learn?

At one level the imminent ‘victory’ of Corbin is bad for the country as a whole. Yet, there is something equally hurtful about this. This is about fairness to PNC contestants such as Murray, Norton, Van-West Charles, and others, who have given so much to their party. Party members should insist that the PNC holds a transparent election, even if just this time around.

I call on Lincoln Lewis and his supporters to publicly declare where they stand on this issue. Does Lewis want, or don’t want a transparent election this weekend at the PNC Congress?

The trick of silence would not do this time. Lewis owes it to the Guyanese people and the international community who are regular recipients of his noisy activism.

Where is the trade union movement now? Where is the voice of labour regarding free and fair elections in the PNC?

The international community and the GHRA must take note of the complicity of many so-called activists for democracy who have lost their voices on the PNC irregularities.

I have a strong belief that if there is indeed a free and fair ballot at the triennial congress Van-West Charles or Murray might do very well. But given the track record and the protests from within the party, I doubt they will ever really know how many votes they really got.