SENIOR members of the PNC have been divided about the party’s past and more especially, about what to do about that dreadful past.
One school of thought holds that the PNC should make a decisive break from those years of gloom by apologizing for rigging elections, for making Guyana bankrupt, for embedding a philosophy of bullyism in the body politic, for the massive shortages that resulted from poor economic governance, and perhaps most of all, for destroying the dreams of an entire generation of Guyanese. PNC moderates want this to happen.
The other school of thought is dominated by the PNC hardliners who want to return to those days when the party and the state were one. What matters most is power. For these hardliners, the best years of the PNC were the ones when the GDF, the government, and the PNC itself were basically branches of each other. Those were the years when Guyanese were slapped around by people in uniform for things like holding a public meeting, or standing by a polling station to prevent electoral fraud.
The military was an integral part of those miasmic years, and the military leadership from those years has never taken any responsibility.
Nor have they been hounded about it. While no one wants a politics of retribution, or a politics of shame, the new PNCR presidential candidate should come clean on these issues. Mr. Granger is no longer a private citizen. He is about to contest for the highest office of this land, and with that comes the awesome responsibility of being open with the Guyanese people.
Mr. Granger is now being portrayed as a calm head. Fine, but we don’t want him to be so calm that he ignores pressing questions about the role of the Guyanese military in rigged elections. Mr. Granger was a senior military officer, and one with serious political clout. The time for him to speak is now.
Ultimately, it is up to Mr. Granger to decide whether he should apologise or not. If he does, the hardliners will be very upset. If he doesn’t, then he may be seen as the new leader of the hardliners. Incidentally, there are already rumours that Mr. Granger wants to bring back national service.