Dear Editor,

THIS is an appeal to all the PNC/R executives and members and to the former Army Officers of the Guyana Defence Force to demand that former President Granger resign from the leadership of the PNC/R immediately. All of us have worked tirelessly to help get him elected leader of the PNC/R and eventually the President of Guyana. During his presidency, he has not only failed his supporters, but he also had absolutely refused to relate to them. Therefore, he must do the honourable thing and leave immediately and allow the party to flourish under new, young and dynamic leadership. Whether or not he chooses to resign, one thing is for sure, he cannot remain the leader of the party. It will be a colossal mistake for the executive members of the PNC/R and all of us ex-army officers to allow him to remain the leader of the PNC/R. This will no doubt do irreparable damage to the party to the extent that it will not survive as a viable and robust alternative to the heavy-handed and oppressive PPP/C cabal.

Having spoken with several ex-army officers and senior members of the PNC/R, the conclusion is that they all felt betrayed by Mr. Granger’s wobbly and inept leadership. Once Mr. Granger became President, he simply isolated himself permanently from the people and we, the former officers and party supporters and members. None of us could have reached him or offered him help or advice. Mr. Granger’s aloof and elitist posture and ludicrous behaviour were responsible for his abysmal failure on bringing criminals to justice for the barbaric murder and disappearance of hundreds of black youths including activist Ronald Waddell and Courtney Crum-Ewing. Most importantly, Mr. Granger did not follow through on many of the party’s development initiatives to bring about change, reduce unemployment and improved the lives of the masses. For five years, he presided over a non-responsive and introverted administration that did not care about the people, much less his supporters.

In fact, Mr. Granger was so naïve and silly that at one point he appointed five advisers. They are Dr. Clive Thomas as national development adviser; Brigadier (Ret’d) Edward O. Collins as national security; Rear Admiral (Ret’d) Gary Best as environment; PNC/R executive member, Aubrey Norton, as youth empowerment; and former leader of the PNC/R, Robert Corbin, as political adviser. Although these advisers were contracted for two years, Mr. Granger did not seek any advice from them. The truth is he made absolutely no contact with any of them. We must admit that we did not intervene or ask questions his unsound actions earlier because we wanted to give him more time. We were wrong! As Mr. Granger’s mistakes grew and multiplied, he did not seek any advice, instead, he retreated and isolated himself from the public.

The fact that Mr. Granger had arrogantly ignored or deliberately underutilised his advisers shows that he did not care about anyone but himself and his image. The ex-army officers who worked assiduously to help get Mr. Granger and the Coalition elected to office in 2015 were totally ignored. Many, if not most of them, believed that the APNU+AFC Administration had a better philosophical approach to Guyana’s development than that of the PPP/C. The APNU +AFC was more even handed and tolerant. That said, we were completely disappointed at his dreadful leadership.

Having failed to deliver a decisive victory in 2020 after being only five years in office compared to 23 years of PPP/C rule, the time has come for all of us in Guyana and the voiceless and muffled PNC/R supporters in diaspora to do some soul searching as to what went wrong and the circumstances surrounding Mr. Granger’s lackluster, abysmal, and ineffective leadership, irrational behaviour, and overly poor judgment. He has divided the party and the reality is that 2025 is just around the corner and a divided PNC/R cannot defeat the PPP/C. It is time for Mr. Granger and his self-appointed surrogate leader to exit the political scene and be replaced by a more progressive and young leadership. We in the PNC/R must act now!

Yours sincerely,

Group of Ten (10) ex-Army Officers