Dear Editor,
DURING the struggle for the accurate count of ballots, there were reminisces from 2015 about fears of election rigging.  I interacted with individuals who were PPP-ites and crossed over to the coalition (AFC really) to help bring about a change in administration. They vouched that the PNC (renamed APNU) would never rig elections again, would not discriminate against Indians and Amerindians, ban basic goods, and close sugar estates and would honor commitment on rice price made to farmers, among other commitments; none of which were kept.

In polling throughout the country, some never thought that the PNC (APNU) would return to electoral fraud or that the AFC would support and condone fraud. A friend, former Central Committee member of PPP/C, welcomed the change in administration in May 2015. During the campaign, when I raised the issue of trust in the coalition to hold free and fair elections and not ban foods, he described both as propagandistic. He said the PNC learned lessons and lost government “because of misrule, rigging, food bans, among other blunders. He said: “Rigging is a thing of the past” and “The PNC can’t ban goods again as it led to too much suffering even among its own supporters.” In recent conversations, I reminded him about his views of Granger, who he had described as a changed person who would cleanse his thought of ever implementing the Burnhamite ideology. My friend was disappointed in the coalition’s mode of governance and racist ideology that was even worse than Burnhamism. “I can’t understand why they had to be so racist and vindictive and when they were given a chance to transform Guyana. Indians supported them and then they discriminated against those very supporters. . They made too many unforced errors or faux pas.” Such a sentiment was expressed all over the country by eminent personalities who supported the coalition in 2015.

I was polling in Charity in April 2015 when I interviewed a voter who, afterwards, I saw distributing coalition campaign literature; he was an AFC activist. One of the questions was whether he feared that rigging would return were the coalition to form the government. He stated, “rigging was a thing of the past and that PNC had learned its lessons and that AFC would not allow rigging.” As we experienced from last March, AFC supported rigging.

The respondent was asked whether he was concerned that a PNC-led government would re-impose the ban on basic foods like flour, potatoes, dhal, etc. His response echoed the answer to the earlier question. He stated that the PNC learned the lesson on banned goods. He said that was a different era of socialism and that foods could not be banned again because the PNC needed Indian support and would not risk a ban on basic foods or items that are critical to the Indian diet or their religious practices. Right after the coalition won the elections, in June 2015, there was a debate on restoration of the food ban. There was no rationale for the PNC to raise the issue as the PNC would not gain political advantage in banning goods. Carl Greendige suggested that the ban be revisited. For some strange reason, he was obsessed with dhal and sought to ‘educate’ Indians about the different kinds of dhals in India. He was sarcastic saying Indians only know about yellow dhal but in India there was a dozen different dhals. The purpose of that sarcasm was not clear to anyone because Greenidge was not talking of banning only yellow dhal but all dhal. So what did it matter whether there were 10 different types of dhals in India. I grew up on urad dhal, lentil dhal, white whole dhal, and yellow dal (the latter being the most known among Guyanese). When dhal was banned, during Greenidge tenure as Finance Minister, Indians turned to bora dhal (blackeye) which was almost impossible to cook as a dhal. Yellow dhal was smuggled in from Suriname for religious services and weddings in coffins. When the food police visited wedding houses or poojas or Koran Shariefs, or Christian Services, the dhal was dumped in latrines to avoid fine and jail. Same with the serving of roti and alou at religious functions. Worshippers were even fearful of being caught eating mohanbhog or parsad that they may be hauled off to prison by the food police.

On closing sugar estates, the AFC-affiliated respondent said his party would not permit it as sugar workers would vote for the coalition because of the commitment made by the AFC to retain their jobs and give increase in pay. On the question of the commitment to rice growers, he said the AFC would guarantee price support to them and provide insurance payments if crops were destroyed because of inclement weather. On the question of discrimination against non-PNC supporters, he said there would be equity and that the coalition would treat all races fairly and no one would be victimised from their government jobs. Those responses were repeated all over the country by those who abandoned PPP/C to vote for coalition. All of them expressed disappointment in AFC after it got into government. Their hopes were shattered when none of the promises were kept. Thousands of sugar workers lost their jobs. Hundreds of Amerindians were sent home. Thousands more were put on the bread line. Indians and Amerindians began a return trek to the PPP/C. They have learned a hard lesson about the history of the PNC and rigging. As they said, a reptile only changes its skin, not its intent. Its inner character remains the same.

Yours truly
Dr. Vishnu Bisram