Nothing, I repeat nothing, has been more of a thorn in the side of the PNC than rigged elections. Judging from press reports of the party’s 16th Biennial Congress on Saturday, the proverbial albatross is alive and well. This is too bad because many in the party seemed bent on moving the PNC out of the caiman hole of internecine strife. That was not to be. And it must be said, that a party that refuses to learn, cannot lead.
During my years overseas, I had the privilege of conversing with many PNC supporters in Toronto, New York, and Washington D.C. Many of these good people are my friends. We would get down to lengthy conversations about the future of Guyana. We often differed about the extant state of affairs in the country, and as expected, we traded jabs based on our own political perspectives. The differences in our politics notwithstanding, our conversations were always polite.
One thing really irritated my friends from the PNC, namely, any reference to rigged elections. I was told time and again that there is no point in holding on to the past, that for us to make progress, we must all find ways of looking ahead. I bought into the argument. Yes, we all need to build a vision, rather than be trapped in the sordid affairs of the past. At some time, we all need to grow up.
In polite company – you know, those among us who read and write regularly, play our music quietly, and shake hands with our opponents – we never say “I told you so”. But the betrayal must hurt. It must hurt to know that the gold of the imagination has turned into the lead of reality, as V.S. Naipaul once famously put it.
Make no mistake about it – the 16th Biennial Congress was a monumental betrayal of all the good people in the PNC. More than that, it was the public burial of an opportunity for the main opposition to finally derive a modicum of legitimacy, a development that would have allowed it to speak with some degree of moral sanctity.
The loss then is not only for those who have been marginalised in their own house, but for the nation as a whole. Regrettably, the PNC remains a party of the Big Man, rather than a vehicle for the development of this land of ours.
I say to my friends in the PNC that change is a hard thing to bring about. Most of the freedoms we have in this country and elsewhere did not come about through the benevolence of men, but through the dint of hard work, dedication, and an abiding faith in what is good for the people. And so you must not lose hope. Change must come WITHIN the PNC, and change will come. Mr. Murray must now be faithful to his own programme – “mo pressha; real pressha.” (I learnt of the mo pressha; real pressha ‘thing’ from Frederick Kissoon’s Column, KN, August 23).
News reports about the PNC Congress indicated that Congress Place was a site of both pandemonium and despair. Many wanted to get in, but could not. Many got in, but soon left. Member of Parliament Judith Blair and union leader Gillian Burton, both of whom should have been automatic delegates were, instead, flapped by the albatross. According to press reports, the same thing happened to a regional chairman (KN August 23). Wrong region I suppose! One newspaper reported that stacks of delegate accreditation cards were passed around to some in the crowd, while others desperately tried to register. Many apparently stretched their hands out for hours for the right to vote.
One predictable thing happened – the name of the dead showed up on the list. It was reported that one individual was given the identity of a dead man, and that man proceeded to vote. Many had predicted the dead man voting. How I wish they were wrong.
The 16th Biennial Congress which was billed as an event that would herald a new PNC turned out to be a veritable paroxysm of irregularities, strife, skullduggery, political machinations, and worst of all, a site of broken dreams. But, there is still time and we must keep hope alive.
The time has come. The time has come for the main opposition to take stock of its history and its electoral habits. Those disenfranchised on August 22nd must take the bold but necessary steps to reform not only the electoral process of the party, but the very way of thinking that has dogged the PNC for decades now.
One small favour, please. I kindly ask you to coax the AFC into this campaign, because Mr. Trotman and Mr. Ramjattan are the new buddies of Mr. Corbin. Let us see where they stand.
