WHILE STILL coping with the political vortex in which he and his PNC have been placed by the opportunistic politics of the minority Alliance For Change (AFC), Opposition Leader David Granger may have created further unnecessary problems for himself and party with the media statement calling on President Donald Ramotar to “apologise” to outgoing US Ambassador, Brent Hardt, for what he regards as “vulgar” and “worthless” remarks against the diplomat by Minister Priya Manickchand.Sufficient of what the Education Minister said in her then acting capacity as Minister of Foreign Affairs in response to Ambassador Hardt’s crude, undiplomatic verbal attack on the Head of State of this sovereign nation, had been reported by the media to have alerted Mr. Granger to come forward with a sober response–if he felt obliged to do so.
Instead, he chose the old path of confrontation politics with the Guyana Government and make a mockery of the constitutional office he holds as Opposition Leader.
Granted the historic relationship between the PNC and reactionary forces located in the USA and known for their misconceived ideological perceptions of the governing PPP, one can perhaps empathise with the knee-jerk reaction of the Opposition Leader to appease envoy Hardt.
But he chose to miss an opportunity to behave responsibly as a politician familiar with political teachings and the world of diplomacy and, of course, the respect due to the elected President of Guyana.
Granger opted instead for low, degrading and divisive politicking by going public with an ill-considered call for President Ramotar to “apologise” for what a then acting Foreign Minister had considered too insulting to ignore—that is the Ambassador’s unprovoked ‘vulgar’—to borrow a description from the PNC leader—personal attack on Guyana’s democratically elected Head of State.
Come now, Mr. Granger, whatever your personal antipathies towards President Ramotar and his democratically elected government, you could not have been serious with that public call for him to “apologise” to Hardt and without offering any comment on the envoy’s deplorable verbal attack on Guyana’s democratically-elected Head of State.
In the reasoning of Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, the PNC leader’s “apology” call was consistent with a pattern the government has discerned when it comes to required defence of Guyana’s political sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Mr. Granger is currently trying to determine his party’s response to the threat from its coalition partner, the AFC, to introduce a “no confidence” motion against the government. At least he seems to recognise, as stated to the media, that such an act
warrants “serious” consideration.
Time will soon demonstrate the depth of “serious” thinking or lack thereof, within the leadership structure of the PNC while the AFC continues to indulge in self-serving fun politics at the expense of Guyana’s national interest.