Dear Editor,
I recalled reading the opposition PPP/C describing their Election Launch Rally, at the Kitty Market Square, as a “low-cost rally”. This explanation was not the result of public demand and was, therefore, unnecessary. So why did the party’s leadership feel compelled to say that the rally was a low-cost affair?

I have been a keen observer of the major election rallies held by the PPP/C at the Kitty Market starting from 1992 to present and I have never heard that party attribute the term “low cost” to any of those rallies. Therefore, the only plausible explanation for them doing so now, is that the party’s leadership felt the need for damage control given the massive attendance at the APNU election launch rally at Jubilee Park, as compared with its own rally. To use a Guyanese saying it is like comparing “cheese with chalk”.

Apart from the unquestionable superior numbers and platform, the APNU rally had a more popular political flare, and the enthusiasm of their supporters was unmatched by what was demonstrated at the PPPC rally. This was obvious to any keen and objective observer. Now let us return to the cost contention posited by the PPP/C: the party is implying that the attendance at the Kitty rally was proportionate to cost – small budget small crowd.

Everyone in the country including the PPP/C leadership has deemed these elections as the “Mother” of all elections. In political terms, this means that there is a national consensus that the new oil and gas industry, with its tremendous wealth, has transformed these elections in a manner unprecedented in the history of the nation. Therefore, in this context, why would the PPP/C choice to make its launch rally a ‘low-key’ affair?

It is no secret that the party, in its 23 years in office, has accumulated huge sums of money stolen from the national coffers, donations from private sector elements and drug lords. A few months ago, Jagdeo and the PPP boasted that they had contracted a major US elections/public relations firm, at the cost millions of Guyana dollars to help with its election efforts. So money then and now is no problem for the PPP/C. It is also public knowledge that in the days running up to the Kitty rally, at Freedom House in Georgetown, the party has been handing out rally bags containing money, jerseys and other election items. This exercise had targeted the poor Afro-Guyanese in the city.
Apparently, the money was taken but the expected attendance of the poor Afro-Guyanese, who were sought after as political cargo, did not materialise. In politics and elections, while money and material gifts at times can have a strong influence on political support, it’s no guarantee to win elections. Voters’ attitude to parties is mainly determined by their life experience and not election handouts.

By declaring their Elections Launch Rally, after the fact, as a low-cost affair, Jagdeo and his cabal that dominate the PPP/C have conceded defeat in the opening round of this historic political engagement deemed by all – the “ Mother of all Elections”.

Regards,
Tacuma Ogunseye