Opposition dying ‘a slow death’ with its one-seat majority (Part 11)

OLD KAI is always amused by the cynics of the ruling party who are ever ready to talk about how the 2011 elections results have spelt doom and gloom for the PPP/C and its future electoral prospects. The Opposition never hesitates to proclaim how the masses have spoken and they are now with their ‘one-seat majority’.A closer look at the election results would however reveal the following: 90% of Guyanese voters rejected the AFC at the last elections, 60% rejected the APNU and close to 50%, or half of those who voted, gave the PPP/C their votes to continue with the transformation of Guyana under President Donald Ramotar.
It is a telling statistic as it underlines the fact that 90% of Guyanese voters do not trust the AFC with the affairs of their country. Remember, this was the AFC at the height of its appeal to Guyanese. It was still the new kid on the block in the political arena, partially untainted when one takes into consideration the major scandals that it has been submerged in ever since the 2011 polls. The party also benefited from several detractors from both the ruling party and the PNC/R, chief among them being long time PPP member Moses Nagamootoo. It was believed then that Moses would have parted the sea for the AFC and led them to victory, after all he proclaimed himself as the holiest politician to ever grace the face of the earth and because of which he was ostracized by other members of the PPP.
He did not take too kindly to people calling him the quintessential political opportunist who was simply obsessed with becoming Presidential Candidate of the PPP/C and only left the party as he became angry that his colleagues did not have faith in his leadership ability. With just a few weeks to go before the elections, he thought this would be the ideal time to destabilize the PPP/C campaign and hope to capitalize and exploit that short period when party supporters were coming to grips with his sudden departure. All manner of attacks was launched by him against the PPP/C and its leadership; they were vilified, and Moses and his crew said all the popular things. They went to sugar workers and promised them a 20% increase, a major increase for public servants, problems in sugar and other sectors would automatically vanish with this master-blueprint that they were in possession of, they even said they had a number of major investors lined up to come to Guyana and invest were they to be elected to government. It is important to note that in the aftermath of the elections, the AFC leader Khemraj Ramjattan admitted that his party never expected to win, but they had hoped to make a major dent in the support of the PPP/C. This basically was an admission that the party was misleading Guyanese, particularly their supporters, in the run up to elections, with those grand promises, knowing they would never be elected to government and have to fulfill them.
With 90% of voters rejecting them, maybe Guyanese did see through their farcical campaign. Even Ramjattan later admitted, during a speech in Trinidad during a Congress of the People conference, that Guyana’s current parliamentary system had been helpful to the AFC as with such a small percentage of votes, his party still gained 7 seats in the national assembly.
Now contrast the reality of November 2011 to January 2014, and you will appreciate that much has happened.  One AFC leader called for ‘no peace’ as they instigated a violent demonstration along the East Bank of Demerara, where persons were beaten, robbed and young women targeted and sexually assaulted. They were also instrumental in the destruction which occurred in Linden. They have now left the community on its own. It is rather interesting that only recently the PPP/C cabinet approved $170 million for the reconstruction of the One Mile primary school which was destroyed during the violent demonstrations.
This is the tale of Guyana, the Opposition is always the first to be part of anything which will lead to violence and destruction in our country, but it is the PPP/C which will eventually have to come in and lead the rebuilding process. When will we ever learn as a nation? There were several major scandals and their much publicized efforts to chase investors out of Guyana or sabotage investments which many speculated was intended to aid financial contributors to the party who were rival competitors.
The fallout has been tremendous, so much so that the AFC seems to be a shell operation these days, run only by a handful of persons. This much was revealed by former members of the AFC in New York when they publicly announced they were cutting all ties with the party. Same is said for several former members in Guyana. Even the youths have had enough of the AFC as every day they publicly make their scorn for the party known on social networking sites such as Face Book. They lament how they were used during the elections campaign, and that they had invested their time and personal resources only to be treated with disdain now by their leaders, their voices being stifled and they are now targeted and insulted. Even the Amerindians who supported them do not want to see them around their communities after they either cut the budget or voted against funding which would have directly benefited hinterland communities.
Sugar workers have also had their fill as Old Kai recalls a story about a year ago, where two AFC leaders who are renowned for trying to exploit the sensitivities along the sugar belt and try to instigate strikes were rushing to the scene of a group of workers with a grouse in the Blairmont area. An eyewitness later revealed that upon seeing the AFC leaders walking in haste towards their group, smiling, the sugar workers said, ‘wha aiyo a come hey fa? Aiyo a only come fuh use we fo start trouble and den aiyo a do aiyo own ting (political opportunism)’.
One worker then took his cutlass and grazed it along the rough surface of road, creating an unmistakable sound. Everyone started to laugh when they saw the two AFC leaders breaking out into a sprint in the direction from which they came, hurriedly entering their vehicle and speeding from the scene. We have not seen these two gentlemen at a strike action in the sugar belt since this incident, nor did they ever talk about their experience.
Yet still, no one will believe that the AFC’s house is crumbling like a deck of cards before our eyes. What they have done, expertly, is try to shift attention away from their present troubles and direct focus at the People’s Progressive Party. They constantly talk about the support that the ruling party lost in the last elections; but with each passing day, their rhetoric seems less and less convincing. What we do know is that the PPP has launched an aggressive drive at all levels, but specifically at the grassroots, and the success is already evident. Old Kai himself has spoken to at least two detractors of the PPP who were extremely critical of the party in the last elections. They claim they have seen the bigger picture now, they obviously have Guyana’s interest at heart but their good intentions were exploited and abused by the Opposition. They are now publicly speaking about their experiences and are openly recognizing the gains of the ruling party and the degree of difficulty and misinformation it has had to deal with at the level of government.
The pressure is well and truly on, so much so that even AFC Vice-Presidential Candidate Moses Nagamootoo was forced to publicly admit recently that funding for the party had “dried” up. What else did they expect, after all, almost every day someone is leaving the party? It is sad as it comes across as if they see their members only as “financial contributors” and nothing more.
So for those who are spelling doom and gloom for the PPP/C, they had better come to grips with reality, as the one seat majority the Opposition currently holds has exposed their inability to effectively manage the affairs of our nation. Guyanese are now better aware of the challenges the ruling party has been facing from the Opposition in its efforts to govern our country, even to the point where they are willing to sabotage developmental programmes and goods and services to citizens, simply to make the PPP/C look bad.
This plan has backfired on the opposition and they are now seeing their control of Parliament as ‘an albatross around their necks’.