MR. LIONEL Lowe must be perpetuating falsehoods about our political development (KN May 19, 28) in defending the PNC’s track record on the abuse of democracy and human rights.  For the record, I am not now or ever have been a member or supporter of the PPP. But even the most virulent anti-communist or harshest critic of the PPP will admit that the PPP fought for universal adult suffrage and the restoration of democracy after the rise of the PNC dictatorship. It is dishonest to say that the PNC restored democracy to Guyana. No hardcore PNCite would ever make such a bold claim.
It is disheartening to know that there still exists in Guyana people like Lowe who refuse to recognise the role the PPP has played in Guyana’s political development and the contributions Indians have made to the nation. Lowe needs to remove his head from the sand and read the history from objective sources.
Contrary to what Lowe feels, Indians did fight for the right to vote as did members (like Kwayana, Clive Thomas, Van Sluytman, Nigel Westmaas, etc) of other ethnic groups. The very fact that they did not succumb to all the harassment (army marches in villages, random beatings, police spies and arrests, etc.) and continue to vote for the PPP meant that the PNC had to continue rigging elections and demonstrated the illegal nature of their regime. No matter what kind of lipstick one tries to put on a pig, it remains a pig.
Lowe said he interviewed PPP supporters and he did not find anyone who believes that the PPP fought for the restoration of democracy in Guyana in 1992. That is incredible. For the record, the PPP was not the only party that fought for free and fair elections. Several other parties and groups and diaspora organizations (including a few I was associated with in New York) also joined the struggle for the restoration of democracy.
Lowe claims it was the PNC that restored democracy to Guyana in 1992. Sure, and Hitler stopped WWII. The PNC was adamantly opposed to democratic reforms in Guyana and did everything to stifle the restoration of democratic governance. It was  pressure from the U.S., Britain, Canada and other western powers, made possible by lobbying from diaspora groups (including the ones I was associated with), that forced the PNC to give in to free and fair elections and that laid the basis for the current electoral system. To put it very bluntly, because the threat from the “Russian Bear” had crumbled and the U.S.  had no interest in not calling a pig a pig – PNC was a rigger and a dictatorship up to its end in office. People lived in fear.
Since the PPP returned to office in 1992, it cannot be disputed that democracy has been institutionalised and elections are free and fair. The parliament has been democratised with management and sectoral committees, which include the opposition. The PPP is now at the receiving end of their largesse. Surely, Lowe will give the PPP credit for not killing political opponents as happened under the PNC.
However, the fact that the PPP did not condemn communist countries for not allowing multi parties to represent the working class is not justification to deny the ballot to Guyanese. And for the record, contrary to what Lowe penned, not all communist parties were voted out of office in former communist countries. Voters in former communist (as well as other) alternated among different competing parties. Remember Nicaragua, The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Georgia, etc?
Nothing can justify denying people the right to vote, not even if communist countries don’t allow the vote.
The PPP is responsible for gross blunders in Guyana and the party should be criticised.  But to not give it credit for the restoration of democracy is perpetuating a falsehood not dissimilar from acknowledging the many historic contributions Indians also made to the country.