THE DEAL is done; the two major Parties, AFC and APNU, are now coalition partners in the fight against the PPP/C. It could not have come at a more opportune time other than February 14, Valentine’s Day. It marks a memorable date in Guyana’s history when these two entities, hitherto sworn enemies, can finally sit down as a unitary whole. Yes, it is a marriage of convenience! And as with all such arranged marriages, there are bound to be consequences. In this instance, there will be no disagreement with the dowry; that is a foregone conclusion. But the great fallout rests with their supporters who have taken this union with horrorific concern. What! A coalition with APNU! What a tragedy!

You see, a substantial support base of the AFC comes from the Region 6 area, and they have been angered, worried sick with this latest move of Nagamootoo. How could he be so wrong? To coalesce with the enemy in open violation of the people’s wishes is outrageous, to say the least! Moses of all people knows the brutal nature of the PNC, having personally suffered at their hands during the long years of The PPP’s wandering in the wilderness. The beatings; the mysterious deaths and disappearances when that Party ruled this country.
To conveniently forget these things is of great concern to the people. If Moses wants to conveniently forget, I rest assure the electorate will not. And this is the point where the rubber hits the road. What will be uppermost in the electorate’s mind when they go into that polling booth on May 11? Would they be thinking, ‘Let us give the AFC our votes’, when Moses openly said he would give those votes to our archenemy, APNU? Or would they be saying, ‘Lets vote for them, anyway’?
But, come to think of it, most writers have been too judgmental of Moses, this writer included, because we have overlooked the salient points of his argument. This politician has been true to the people by unlocking the hidden secret he has been carrying all this time; this is his hidden agenda. Tacitly, he is saying to the people, ‘Do not vote for the AFC.’ He is inaudibly saying, ‘ I know I’ve made this huge mistake in sitting with the enemy, but we can make a way somehow.’ Silently he is saying, ‘But I don’t want them to win.’ When he can openly say to the world that 11% of the Indian vote will be given to the PNC/APNU, he is in essence telling the people, ‘Do not vote for me.’
Nagamootoo is well aware of the Indian’s abhorrence of the PNC/APNU, and there is no way they are going to vote for the AFC when those votes go to APNU. As a Berbician to the bone, Nagamootoo knows the psyche of Indians and Berbicians as a whole. We suffered immeasurably under the PNC, and now APNU, and will not moil in that mess again. Ever.
NEIL ADAMS