THE hypocrisy of some members of the Opposition is shocking, and I have the PNCR in mind here. I refer to what is coming from the mouth of Vanessa Kissoon and how it is being treated so very lightly. The lady is very firm in shedding light on the reason for her demotion and general harassment within the ranks of the People’s National Congress (PNCR): “At this time, I prefer not to go into the details of the incident, save to say that I was assaulted at Congress Place, and I was not the aggressor…” Now this assault declaration has some merit to it.

I go back now to what took place within the party, as regards the use/misuse of the PNCR’s facilities in Linden. The drift most people are getting is that the male top brass of the party are not too comfortable with a feisty, independent and outspoken woman, especially one who is not shy in exposing shady business and suspicious behaviour. It is indeed quite shocking to see that the very people in this set up, namely David Granger and Oscar Clarke, who were once championing the cause of gender equality and mutual respect, are now showing a different side.

This PNCR would always pounce on Government for not doing enough about women and for being slow and lenient, as regards Trafficking in Persons (TIP), and yet its leading members are practicing a form of discrimination that all Guyana is against. This Ms. Kissoon is now suffering, and only because she is for transparency and accountability in her party. I think that she is learning the hard way what the PNCR is all about.

Here is a classic case of what the PNCR is all about. Prior to this period, when Mr. Robert Corbin was at the helm, it was the same kind of ‘in-closet’ and ‘undisclosed’ nature of business that bothered many. The terrible thing is that this woman is being pushed around. She was demoted (most likely as a move of revenge) and now her obvious disciplining and sidelining are not being discussed in a legal and democratic in-party manner.

Granger is still not commenting on the matter and neither is Basil Williams. I think that this case should attract the attention of the many strong women we have here, who are against the subjugation and disrespect of women. To think that some of these PNCR people are considering leading this country is quite a scary thing.

ATTIYA BAKSH