Is the APNU+AFC Coalition in opposition with itself?

ASTONISHINGLY and astoundingly, in a mere few weeks, we have learnt more of the internal dynamics of the APNU+AFC since it entered and exited power between 2015 and 2020. We were always aware of the fact that the primary focus of the APNU+AFC Coalition, when in government, was to conceal schisms and cracks within itself, to provide us with positive images of itself, and to ridicule the then PPP/C opposition. There were no shortages of supporters and scalawags who propped, propelled, and promoted such diktat. The plan was effective insofar as it kept most Guyanese in limbo not knowing exactly in what direction the Coalition would swing, reinforced by attempts to hang on to power through the school of ‘rigology’ following March 2, 2020, general elections. Then in a volte-face on August 2, 2020, the Coalition’s paradise was lost, to borrow poet John Milton’s title, by all who believed that PNC’s rigging of general elections for twenty-eight years should not be repeated in Guyana.

I pause here to say that the relinquishing of power by the APNU+AFC Coalition was not axiomatic. Someday, Guyanese will know exactly what went on within the APNU+AFC Coalition that “pushed” them to give up power. My contention is pressure from the United States. There appears to be an internal squabbling within the Coalition whether or not to give up power based on one word, “Sanctions.”

That said, for over a year after the Coalition was booted out of power, we have noticed that it has embarked on a journey of catnapping, rising now and again only when the situations demand attention while peddling the falsehood that March 2, 2020, general election was stolen from them. This desperate peddling is losing traction and ebbing into oblivion on a daily basis as many, including the supporters of the Coalition, have woken up to the thought that the Coalition indeed was defeated in the last general election. Yet, we have been on a roller coaster guessing as to what has been going in the opposition. It is important to keep in mind that the opposition’s support base constitutes just under fifty per cent of the population, and we would like to sting their sleepy conscious into that direction of responsibility without misguiding them to embrace violence. The opposition is a loose cannon. Do you remember the Cotton Tree Village race riot, coming months after the long standoff over the general election results?

From all indications, even to the most distant observer, we recognise that a political culture of inconsistency had become consistent. We observe that the missing in action syndrome had become the norm of the opposition. We understand that when a political party loses power, normalcy prevails, meaning that the party goes back to the drawing board to sort out what went wrong, regroup and chart a course on how to return to power.  This does not seem to be the main focus since the Coalition maintains that the PPP/C has been installed into government, a reckless declaration equivalent to a blow below the belt. The opposition, however, has a vicious desire to return to power, a pipe dream for at least the next 10 years.

Then, out of nowhere, the opposition tossed us a bone, revealing its long-held secret. What appeared to be a rumor became factual. There has always been a challenge to David Granger’s leadership within the APNU+AFC Coalition. Some have been saying that Granger is an incompetent leader. His fluffing and bluffing style, dubbed as calm and cool and collective in public, was simply not frolicsome enough to keep the party going from abinitio. Others have been saying that the man never had a chance to enjoy his victory dance in 2015. Everyone in the Coalition wants to be a leader. Meanwhile, the AFC, the main limp partner in the Coalition, is saying that PNC problems are not theirs; wanting us to believe that its mollycoddling duties in the Coalition is fading. The madness does not add up. After holding Guyana hostage for five years with a death grip, these political maniacs want to return to power.

Interestingly, too, is that the split in the opposition seemed to have influenced a Brooklyn, New York-based umbrella organisation calling itself Guyanese Organisations against Racism (GOAR), headed by Rickford Burke, alleging racism by the PPP/C Government against Black Guyanese? Sundry analysts have dismissed this accusation as baseless, pointing to a new strategy of destabilisation by the opposition and its supporters against the PPP. The questions worth asking are as follows: (a) Why did the protest occur overseas rather than in Guyana? Is it that the overseas supporters do not have confidence in the top brass of the opposition that lost the 2020 general election? (b) Why is it that there were so many so-called backbenchers of opposition at the protest in Brooklyn? Is it that the top brass was not invited and that it was GOAR’s way of sending a message that change is necessary in the opposition? Or, is it that the top brass of the opposition was unable to attend because it is still subject to sanctions for its role to rig the 2020 general election. Whatever might be reasons for the above entanglement, it is now clear that opposition is in opposition with itself, an unenvied nightmare (lomarsh.roopnarine@jsums.edu).

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