THE Stabroek News is seriously contaminated with its strategic alliance with the AFC. Given the extent of its accommodation of the political views and positions of its strategic partner it is impossible to miss Stabroek News’s dedicated articulation and promotion of the AFC.
The poll published by Stabroek News on Friday June 4, 2010 is another example of its similar agenda prior to the 2006 national elections in Guyana where together with the AFC they tried to pull a stunt on Guyanese with outrageous predictions of the Dick Morris Poll.
On this occasion, the Stabroek News and AFC have contracted the services of one of the Caribbean’s most discredited pollster Barbados-based Peter Wickham who runs the Caribbean Development Research Services (CADRES).
Mr. Wickham and his organisation CADRES are not known to be respected anywhere in the Caribbean for their polls. Every poll Mr. Wickham did in the Caribbean there has been serious doubts about his integrity. There are serious accusations of him swinging the tide where the Captain wants it. None of his polls have been close to realistic; instead they are basically concoctions to confuse the voting population. Its like say something and they will believe it.
Mr. Wickham was in Guyana two weeks ago and met with AFC leader Raphael Trotman, Khemraj Ramjattan and Tarron Khemraj. The publication of the poll by Stabroek News two weeks later has brought to light the purpose of this meeting and confirmed a similar strategy used by the AFC prior to the last elections.
Prior to 2006 elections, in what was widely viewed as a fake poll, Dick Morris predicted the AFC would overtake the PNCR as the major opposition party. Of course we have seen how miserable the AFC performed in comparison to the prediction.
As we head towards the 2011 elections, there will be attempts by the Wickham’s and Dick’s of this world to confuse voters with all kinds of fictitious polls. This is a well known strategy by the AFC to try to bolster their image using fake polls.
The AFC should have researched Mr Wickham’s background and if it did, it is surprising to know that that party prefers to associate itself with an individual who is unimpressive by his off-target predictions.
Even if the AFC disassociates itself from Mr. Wickham now that we have the revelation of their association, it is important for the Guyanese public to know that Mr. Wickham has serious bias as the PPP/C Administration. He is a critic of the administration using ethnic-based arguments against the regime. He is also part of a grouping who unashamedly demonstrates their hatred for the PPP/C administration, including Kean Gibson and Lincoln Lewis and Emile Mervin.
It is not surprising that two weeks after that meeting we are seeing a fake poll in the Stabroek News. While Mr. Trotman and his AFC acolytes have the right to association and free will to meet with whom they choose to Mr. Trotman nevertheless should let us know what this meeting was all about.