THE People’s National Congress (PNC) is going through the process of selecting its presidential candidate. As the party goes through its leadership election process, readers need to keep five things in mind about the PNC.
These five issues almost guarantee failure for this party that once had control of eighty percent of the economy, and that erased all ‘firewalls’ between the ruling party and the state. Here are the four issues.
Firstly, the PNC continues to be its own worst enemy by repeatedly bungling its own process of presidential candidate selection. Over the past year charges of internal rigging have dominated the election process. These charges have been made by party stalwarts. Such charges have come from Vincent Alexander, Richard Van-West Charles, and the recently deceased (and once indefatigable) Winston Murray. Accusations of rigging are continuing in the current election process as this article is going to press.
Secondly, the PNC is likely to be put in the same jeopardy as the Alliance For Change (AFC) because there will be an inevitable clash between the party’s presidential candidate and its leader.
Those who follow the AFC closely will know that conflicting messages are sent from the party. No one seems to be in charge and the slack has to be filled in by robotic letter writers, most of whom have never spent a day in government.
Thirdly, the PNC needs to be mindful that it no longer has a solid ‘lock’ on its traditional constituencies. A chunk of one of those constituencies has been captured by right-wing extremists who are not interested in electoral politics. For the leadership of these far-right extremists, the ballot box is a hoax.
Fourthly, the PNC has failed to produce any new and fresh faces. This is a serious issue for a party that faces a massive legitimacy deficit. It won’t be a stretch to suggest that the most serious problem for the PNC is its legacy of rigging. A fresh face could have signalled that the rigging-past is done with. No such face has emerged.
Fifth and finally, the PNC will have a huge problem with any of the current candidates. None of them can run off their record.
Once they outline the situation that they left Guyana back in 1992, the electorate will stand up and say – yes we remember those miserable days. Memory is not a friend of the PNCR. Do you really think that a finance minister from the late 1980s can stand before the Guyanese electorate? Do you really believe that? Not even Henry Hartley would be able to help.