GUYANA is today a democratic state. This democracy is manifested, among other ways, in the fact that Guyanese are today free to elect a government of their choice in free and fair elections, which was not the case prior to 1992 when for all practical purposes the country had experienced a de facto one-party state, one in which there was very little distinction between the Party and State. Under the doctrine of ‘party paramountcy,’ the flag of the PNC was flown over  government buildings including that of the High Court. Such was the extent of disregard for the rule of law that the Office of the General Secretary of the PNC and the Ministry of National Mobilisation were fused into a single entity, both of which were financed out of taxpayers’ money. The national mobilisation ministry was created to, as it were,‘manufacture’ crowds at PNC-sponsored rallies and political meetings in order to create a façade of popular support.
Those were the days when you had to be in possession of a PNC party card before you could gain access to state resources including jobs and basic food items such as salt, cooking oil and detergents. Other essential food items were either banned or were in limited supply. It was not uncommon to see long lines, (dubbed Guylines) of people waiting for hours in sweltering heat for food items only to be told that the items were finished!
Interestingly, the entity responsible for the distribution of scarce food items was the Knowledge Sharing Institute or what was popularly referred to as KSIs. As to how an outfit that essentially had to do with distribution of food items was associated with knowledge sharing remains until this day a mystery which only the PNC can explain; but at a more fundamental level, it exposed the degree of arrogance and disdain to which the Guyanese people were subjected  by the PNC regime.
These are some of the episodes in our political history that cannot be wished away, especially at this time when attempts are being made by opposition politicians to create the impression that the past was better than the present. The truth is that Guyanese went through a difficult and painful past which no rational voter would wish to see repeated in our country.