IT is quite natural or normal for members of an opposition party to have and express critical views about the policies and projects of the incumbent government but it is quite strange when they extend their rancour to others when they do not get their way.
In the case of the A Partnership For National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) such adversarial, bulling and unproductive posture, could hardly be described as strange.
Recent statements from the APNU+AFC senior leader, Joseph Harmon, who is also Leader of the Opposition, immediately comes to mind.
From the period of March 2020 stretching to August of that year, Guyanese at home, in the diaspora and people around the world, witnessed the most brazen attempts in the 21st century by elements at the Guyana Election Commission (GECOM) to rig the national elections.
During this dark period, the actors in GECOM, who many have called out as agents of the APNU+AFC, went to great lengths to make all sorts of fraudulent declarations to hand the then APNU+AFC Government, victory at the March 2, 2020 polls. They failed in their evil attempts because of a series of embarrassing losses at the courts and mounting international pressure to desist from squatting in office.

It is prudent when a party looses an election, it reflects on its action in office, re-strategise and work to win back the confidence of the majority of the electorate. But not the APNU+AFC under Harmon, who was installed by former President, David Granger, as Opposition Leader.
Notwithstanding the disgraceful attempts to seize power through fictitious statements of poll, the APNU+AFC bizarrely filed two elections petitions in which they made the laughable claim that they were wrongfully removed from office. It was therefore hardly any surprise to any rational mind when the unmeritorious and preposterous arguments by Coalition attorneys were dismissed by the Honourable Chief Justice, Roxanne George, who threw out both of the petitions, the last one being Petition 88 of 2020, on Monday.
From the onset, the petitions seem to be driven by imagination rather than sound legal arguments and one would have at least or reasonably expect that the Opposition Leader, though pained by the losses notwithstanding his contrived arguments, show respect for the judgement of the court. It was crude, callous and utterly disrespectful when instead of graciously accepting the judgement in the last case, he proceeded to lambaste the court in a fit of infantile tantrum — a habitual behaviour of his that is devoid of any modicum of statesmanship or befitting of any leader worthy of becoming President.

Attorney-General, Anil Nandall could not be more right when he pointed out that judges, in their administration of justice, must be able to deliver rulings fearlessly, without the apprehension of their reputation being tarnished by parties to litigation, especially those who are not satisfied with the rulings.
“Our system is adversarial and therefore one litigant will lose and one will win. The loser has a right to appeal, which he must resort to if he wishes; he has no right to scandalise the judge or ascribe a sinister motive to the Judiciary,” the Attorney-General warned, adding that: “I am appalled by the barrage of verbal attacks recorded in the media against the Judiciary and in particular the Honourable Chief Justice as a result of a recent decision rendered. This type of scurrilous attack on the Judiciary strikes at the heart of the administration of justice and must be condemned in the strongest possible fashion.”

The attack by Harmon on the Judiciary and Chief Justice is reminiscent of his attacks on regional leaders and reputable international organisations which condemned the attempts by elements at GECOM to rig the March 2, 2020 elections in favour of then APNU+AFC regime.
But his statement on Monday did not stop there. Harmon went on again to describe the sitting, democratically-elected People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government, who he wants to have dialogue with, and according to him, in the “interest of the nation”, as “installed” and “where they have no right being”.
This kind of symphony from Harmon hardly resonates with commonsense and he should not be dismayed at the negative coverage of his public outpourings by the reputable media houses in Guyana.