MUCH of what was said in previous instalments can in many ways be summed up to definitively pronounce that the combined Opposition in the form of APNU+AFC, is seeking to extract pre-1992 memories from Guyanese.This is based on some of the pronouncements of members of that coalition. I alluded to this before, but it would be worthwhile to summarise. Just prior to the official announcement of the coalition, its leader David Granger was hinting on the need for the past to be forgotten in the face of pressure for him to testify at the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the death of Dr. Walter Rodney.

Following the announcement of the collation, leader of the AFC Khemraj Ramjattan boldly proclaimed (barefacedly some believe) that there are no electoral “riggers” in APNU.

This unbelievable statement has left some in shock who may have had, at the time, still harbour some semblance of respect for him. History, pre and post 1992, would reveal the many scathing attacks Ramjattan unleashed on the PNC for imposing itself on Guyanese through massive electoral riggings. It must be noted that APNU is the PNC and the few small Parties that have joined, were irrelevant and only served to falsely convey a multi-party impression; window dressing to mask a sordid past.

Ramjattan knew that, and during the 2011 campaign when the PNC contested under the APNU banner for the first time, he told his supporters that the AFC would never be a part of that grouping. That was said in the context in which he didn’t want the AFC to be tarnished by the PNC’s fouled past. In other words, he was very cognisant of the atrocities the PNC inflicted.

Of course history proved differently and today, the AFC is a partner of the PNC. But that aside, Ramjattan, in the past would have accused the former leader of the PNC, Robert Corbin, as being the chief rigger of some of the elections held while that Party was in government.

Robert Corbin was on the stage at the APNU/AFC rally held in Linden on Saturday, March 14, 2015. Ramjattan was also on that stage; they shared it and basked together in the success of the meeting! Based on what he would have said in the past, there were also others present who he accused as being riggers. In Linden, Ramjattan and Moses Nagamootoo were enjoying the company of those they accused of raping Guyana. So what are they trying to tell us in 2015? Are they saying that by being an official part of the PNC now, they are forced to retract their beliefs with regard to that Party’s electoral crime?

What Ramjattan failed to realise during his denouncing, is that he wasn’t fooling anyone but himself. There are thousands upon thousands of Guyanese, both here and abroad, who lived through the period of PNC rigging of elections and who are aware of Ramjattan’s related sentiments. In other words; they haven’t forgotten. Not to be outdone and wanted to be in the limelight, Nagamootoo chimed in with a statement of his own. He valiantly demanded that the past be forgotten, specifically, the period of the PNC rule. Just like Ramjattan, Nagamootoo having now been given prominence in the PNC, is demanding of Guyanese that they should forget what the PNC did to bring this nation to its knees when they buried it in poverty.

It is common knowledge that politics make strange bedfellows, but despite that, one’s conscience must, in some way, be a guiding beacon. More so, despite whatever alliance one may endeavour to engage in, the level of vulgarity and deception Ramjattan and Nagamootoo have displayed in defending the atrocities that the PNC inflicted on this nation, has to be unmatched. There are tons of accusations they would have levelled in the past against David Granger with regards to what they believe to be his role in aiding former President, Forbes Burnham, to steal power through rigging.

Many stories were written about the army’s role in forcibly removing ballot boxes from polling stations and transporting them to a central location where it is believed the rigging took place. Many stories have been written about the shooting to death of two young men from Corentyne who were trying to safeguard the integrity of the boxes in that area in 1973. Accusations were levelled at Mr. Granger with regard to that incident. Coming from the PPP, Ramjattan and Nagamootoo would have extreme difficulties to divorce themselves from accusations.

Again, this exemplifies not only shameless deception on the part of these two politicians, but gross disrespect and insensitiveness for the intellect of Guyanese and for the pains and sufferings the people were forced to endured during that time. In the same context, there could not be doubts of both Ramjattan and Nagamootoo vehemently condemning the PNC for the violence which was unleashed following the 1997 elections and the resulting economic loss. Those violent acts precipitated a truncated term for the PPP from 1997-2001.

This again begs many questions as to why would Ramjattan and Nagamootoo want Guyanese to forget the atrocities of the PNC. Clearly, it cannot be because of a need to heal. From all appearances, it’s a more sinister agenda to impose amnesia in an effort to massage their egos and to hopefully satisfy their insatiable appetite for power by any means.

(By Teayken A. Dhigg)