IF I am allowed to tweak V. S. Naipaul’s comment on the academic failing to see what is around him to the politician not seeing what is coming, I would say, that such a politician has no business being in the position of leadership. In a matter of weeks, we will be reminded of how the APNU+AFC Coalition tried to rig the March 2, 2020 general election to remain in power. That is painful enough but the consistent claim of the Coalition that the election was taken away from them by the current PPP Government with help from “foreign forces” to install the PPP into office is an exercise in political apologia.

The hangers-on mentality of the APNU+AFC Coalition can only be sustained, particularly to their supporters, with a continuous dose of propaganda coupled without addressing the lack of political endowments within its chambers. What these individuals do not seem to understand is that the practice of politics will test one’s character and moral qualities beyond its specific knowledge base of support.  What we have been witnessing is the inability of the Coalition to produce a highly competent corps of administrators capable of managing complex issues of politics. Characteristics of quick intellect and the fine gift of administrative abilities are lacking.

The reality, therefore, is that the Coalition has not been able to mount an effective response why it was defeated at the polls nor address its underlying problems such as internal squabbling, incompetence, snafu, and so on. The result is that the situation in the Coalition has moved from bad to worse, notably, emerging power pitting against existing ones as being the most transparent with the ultimate aim to enhance one’s own position and power.

I understand that in any government, and mostly in Coalitions, there are often conflicts among politicians over specific policies such as appointments to high offices. Does this ring a bell? However, one way to address the impasse is to be engaging and inclusive, for example, by seeking out private groups and civil society, for coordinating ideas. This rarely happened during Coalition administration. Instead, the mastery of concealment and conceit as well as reckless spending on not-well thought projects, among others, was simply a heavy burden on most of the country, while those in power availed themselves with the posh lifestyle that comes with political appointments. This formed the matrix of belief in the Coalition like pigs feeding on troughs. All this descended into one final destination, from declining popularity to obsolescence.

You know what happened when what hit the fan after the No-Confidence Vote (NCV). The Shoguns of the Coalition went helter-skelter, taking the nation with them for three years of pain showing no penitence. The increasing misery of the Guyanese people did not lead to a revolt but to a firm expression at the polls. The Guyanese showed their priority who should lead them, but the Shoguns have since refused to accept the reality, revealing an obstinate thread that has been running through the political fabric of the PNC, now joined by the defunct AFC. That thread is that if a sound and secure entrance to power cannot be achieved when facing the polls, do not rule out rigging, especially when the voting results are unfavourable. It bears repeating that this thinking has hit a dead-end in Guyana. A healthy synergy by various factions in the community has been developing to foster democracy, and the clarion call is for the PNC to join.

What is equally disturbing is the Coalition’s claim to remain in office. Such a declaration does not jell with the majority of Guyana, home and abroad, since it disregards the suffering Guyanese have received at the hands of the parasitic servants of the state and speaks to the flaws of the Coalition akin to the Turkish proverb, “the fish stinks from the head.” Instead of looking down their political noses and taking seriously what the voters had said, and using that message to build confidence, bridge the political divide, and embrace optimism, the Coalition has shown no sympathy for even the occasional oppositional voice, misconstruing the modus operandi of politics: listening, learning, and indexing what the people are saying. The static narrative that the PNC won the last election, two years later, and was cheated out, is tantamount to placing a high premium on propaganda, clannish loyalty, leading to jeremiad and harangue.

The Coalition years in office, and particularly after March 2, 2020, was experimental for the coming reality to be in the opposition. The Coalition’s insistence to remain in power by using and abusing power, the disregard of the NCV, for example, kept the privileged apart from the non-privileged, which served as a forerunner for something more serious: the Coalition would be voted out of office.

So what to expect moving forward? Some in the Coalition will not be around because they have failed to see what was coming while others will gravitate to what was said of Shakespeare’s Gratiano, in The Merchant of Venice who spoke “an infinite deal of nothing, more than any man in all Venice. His reasons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff” and if you are willing to spend an awful time looking for them, and when you do find them, you will ask yourself, does it worth the search (lomarsh.roopnarine@jsums.edu)