Dear Editor,
DR. David Hinds, in an article in the Kaieteur News on April 5, 2020 entitled “Scrap the election and install an interim government” was both reckless and ill-conceived in terms of methodology.

In the said article, he took time to give a chronology of his political activism and details of WPA’s position as it relates to certain pertinent current position in politics, completely forgetting that they were nine political parties contesting the 2020 General and Regional Elections, namely: People’s Progressive Party (PPP); A Partnership for National Unity+ Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC); A New and United Guyana (ANUG); the United Republican Party (URP); Change Guyana; the Liberty and Justice Party (LJP); the People’s Republic Party (PRP); The Citizenship Initiative (TCI); and The New Movement (TNM).
Dr. Hind’s position is, and I quote: “Scrap this election. Destroy those boxes. Install an Interim Government led by Granger as President, and the PPP man as Prime Minister. Divide the Cabinet equally between the two sides. Go back to the old parliament. Set up an Independent Commission tasked with structurally overhauling GECOM, changing the governance architecture and the electoral laws to ensure outcomes that are in keeping with power-sharing.

Give them two years to do that, and then go back to elections.”
This, of course, gives the seven smaller parties no place at the table.
Dr. Hinds is forgetting that before his party, the Working People Alliance (WPA), was rescued from the political wilderness and drafted into the APNU coalition, he did not have a voice.

Since the death of its leader, Dr. Walter Rodney, the Party has not contributed in any significant way to the political landscape of Guyana. Dr. Hinds is assured of a position in that 50/50 interim Government he seeks to install. Imagine a man who belongs to a political party that was not a part of independent political machinery contesting three consecutive elections, and hidden under the wings of a political cabal that was implicated in the alleged assassination of his party leader saw it fit to ostracise, displace and make invisible seven political parties which have rallied and gained votes, which mean they have a constituency they represent.

Can the WPA say they have a dedicated following? I am not sure that they do.
If Dr. Hinds does not see the other parties as fit and proper to be included in an interim Government, then he is not in tune with the political realities of the 2020 Elections.
I cannot speak for the small parties which contested the 2020 Elections, but I can give compelling reasons why the United Republican Party (URP) must be included in an Interim Government. The PPP/C, APNU+AFC and the URP were the only Parties that contested all ten AQdministrative Regions in the 2020 General and Regional Elections. This means that since Dr. Hinds is willing to burn all the ballot boxes, then the interim government must be set up, using a formula that shows equality and parallel circumstances that do not relate to what happens at the polls. I will, therefore, premise my argument for inclusion on the fact that persons who signed pre-election petitions asking for the URP to be placed on the ballot came from all 10 electoral districts, which will make the URP equal with both the Parties Dr. Hinds is allocating a 50/50 split. No sir, remove your myopic veil and consider a 23/23/21 split. URP will take the 21 seats, because we were not a parliamentary party in the last parliament. Let it be noted the URP was instrumental in bringing democracy back to Guyana when, all included, the WPA wanted the PNC dictatorship removed from the saddle of comfort after 28 years.

The URP contested the 1992, 2015 and 2020 General and Regional Elections, and the 2018 Local Government Elections in all 10 electoral districts, the same as the two Parties Dr. Hinds is giving 50/50 control. Apart from the two mentioned salient facts, the URP is the only political party that has shown total impartiality and balanced decision-making fortitude post-2020 Elections.

We have supported the PPP/C after the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) showed gross misconduct concerning the compilation of votes. The URP was also adamant that we should not call international sanctions on our country, supporting the incumbent APNU+AFC. Dr. Hinds, you need to think rationally when allocating seats to political parties in the 21st Century.

Regards,
Rawle Aaron