Dear Editor

REFERENCE is made to Anil Nandlall’s Facebook post of September 23, “A coalition with no power”, in which he determined Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, and Ministers Raphael Trotman and Khemraj Ramjattan as not having any ministerial power as members of the current administration, since their roles and functions have been absorbed by the People’s National Congress (PNC) segment of the coalition government.

Editor, Anil Nandlall’s view is a carefully, continuing trend of People’s Progressive Party/Civic narrative on the Alliance For Change(AFC), a member of the current President David Granger-led coalition government. It is further a strategy designed to sow the seeds of uncertainty, and confusion, about Guyana’s future as a country governed by a coalition government.

Such a line is not unexpected, either, since it is designed to conjure a perception in the minds of PPP/C constituents that attempts at coalition politics in Guyana have failed, and cannot suffice as a vehicle for national unity, as part of the government’s efforts towards social cohesion. Such a message is subtle; masking the real intention to paint AFC’s cabinet members as ineffective, and with no influence. One has only to refer to PPP/C party leaders, Bharrat Jagdeo’s and Clement Rohee’s intermittent attempts at targeting Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, with the party leader refusing to accept the prime minister as leading a government delegation to engage the opposition on matters of national importance.

Simply stated, it is petty politics to the max, which continues to reflect a mindset of political grudge, immaturity, and being out of sync with a changing global landscape in which coalition governments are becoming the new political order of forming governments. It is now recognised as a mechanism, not only for unseating an incumbent government, but also for alignment of groups that although of disparate political-socio-economic backgrounds, are prepared and willing to place consensual areas of national concerns, above common interests.

It must be reminded that what the PPP/C had masqueraded as the civic component of its former government was a national hoax designed to hoodwink a nation into believing that its political support base was broad-based, and that it had embraced inclusivity. It never was, and will never do, since it is a party that embraces the conflictive and dangerous political ideology of ethnic domination.
But back to Nandlal’s contention of spite and grudge, which is also dishonest and deceptive.

All three cabinet officers mentioned, have their allotted constitutional functions, clearly demarcated as dictated by the individual constitutional functions. And they are also carrying out those functions as mandated in consonance with cabinet approval, for that is what any cabinet officer has to follow in accordance with the rule of collective responsibility.

I will not waste further time in seeking to debunk statements from Nandlall, lest I am construed as dignifying a presidential wannabe. All three of these officers are performing their functions in three very challenging portfolios that have to do with very critical aspects of this country’s future political-social-economic growth and development – but they are not corrupt, living fat off of the nation’s toil, like many in the PPP did.

Regards
Dillon Goring