IT IS COMMONPLACE in Guyana to hear about the formation of a new political party of some sort, and this was exactly what happened on the ‘eve’ of the 2011 national elections. The mass media told the Guyanese people last week of the birth of a new political party called ‘A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)’. But is it really a ‘birth’? This APNU is a product of political rehabilitation, acquiring its therapy from a substandard rehabilitation centre, namely the divided Congress Place. This union of sorts sends a message that the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) is toiling at the eleventh hour to save itself from political oblivion, come 2011 national election. I would agree that many applauds should be given to those who not only strive for advancement but who at the same time develop a state of readiness for that advancement; otherwise, it would be wishful thinking. Nonetheless, it is difficult to give a standing ovation to the PNCR on this occasion because instead of APNU creating a state of readiness for the PNCR, it has only managed to conjure up a state of backwardness. 
APNU is a political shell without the PNCR. Its other members, the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), Guyana Action Party (GAP), National Front Alliance (NFA), and Guyana People’s Partnership (GPP) are devoid of any meaningful constituency, meaning that they represent no one. It is a coalition, therefore, of personalities, of names, and not a coalition of the people’s interests. APNU, definitively, is not a people’s partnership, and does not carry the ‘wherewithal of a constituency’ for achieving national unity. The PNCR’s ‘shell’ partners would make no difference to that party’s electoral performance; and certainly, the PNCR is heading down the wrong road without a significant PNCR stalwart at the helm, whether it is Mr. Robert Corbin or some other of such ilk.
And it is interesting to note that some prominent PNCR people continue to blame Corbin for the progressive demise of the PNCR, for that party’s defeat at the last election and Corbin’s inability to marshall the PNCR’s foot soldiers since 2006. After former President Forbes Burnham’s passing, his successor Mr. Desmond Hoyte achieved little ‘marshalling’ in this regard, too. Clearly then, given Corbin’s legacy of a fragile groundwork for mass mobilization of its support base, the absence of two historically significant PNCR leaders, and the intense public dissension for party leadership succession, Corbin’s readiness at and potential for winning the 2006 election became a foregone conclusion. Furthermore, history was not on Corbin’s side in 2006 because Corbin was traversing a checkered PNC historical path, where that party never won an election in Guyana.
At any rate, the thrusting of the APNU on Guyana is not surprising. Each election brings to the fore some chatter of a grand coalition to defeat the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C). And the Guyanese people would recall the PNCR’s rhetoric of a ‘big tent’ in 2006; it never happened. The APNU is certainly not any grand coalition or something even approximating a big tent.
I previously wrote when Brigadier David Granger was in negotiations for this ‘shell’ coalition: “And even if Granger succeeds in extracting some tangibles from the current ‘coalition’ discussions, their electoral utility would be zero; except the PNCR, each partner within the aspiring coalition, that is, the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), the Guyana Action Party (GAP), and the National Front Alliance (NFA) has no solid constituency. And even if these four coalition aspirants hold together in the next few days, clearly, the Brigadier will emerge as coalition leader. That certainly will not be breaking news, as the aspiring coalition minus the PNCR really is a shell. In fact, should the coalition happen, then it is the PNCR that would really be the coalition.” And predictably, Granger is now the leader of the PNCR coalition called APNU.
Look at the unpersuasive electoral record of the small political aspirants: WPA 6,086 votes in 1992, declining to 4,783 votes in 1997; the WPA joined forces with GAP in the 2001 national elections to receive only 9,451 votes. GAP linked with ROAR in the 2006 national elections where they received only 4,588 votes. The NFA obtained 417 votes in 2001.
Now that Brigadier Granger is leading the PNCR coalition, he should clarify his status as GDF Commander between 1979 and 1990 pertaining to the demise of Dr. Walter Rodney on June 13, 1980. Media reports at that time noted that Rodney obtained a bomb-laden device from Gregory Smith, a serving member of the GDF; those media reports further noted that Smith, in order to escape prosecution, was subsequently ferreted out to French Guiana. Press reports noted that in the book ‘Assassination Cry of a Failed Revolution – the Truth about Dr. Walter Rodney’s Death’ by William Gregory Smith & Anne R.Wagner, Smith admitted to setting up the explosive device that killed Rodney. There are other significant questions for the Brigadier to address, as he now leads the PNCR coalition, a shell by any standards.