ON Friday morning, millions of people witnessed Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton, being interviewed on a Trinidadian TV 6 Morning programme.
Apart from the technical glitches with the audio of Norton which happened at the start of the broadcast, those who were watching, and knew the truth about what Norton was trying to say, were in shock.

Norton criticised President, Dr Irfaan Ali for “seeking to suggest to people that he is developing One Guyana”. He spoke at length about how the President and People’s Progressive Party (PPP) were, allegedly, guilty of discriminating against people, namely African Guyanese.

He alleged that the PPP/C Government lacks accountability and transparency. Norton even went further to allege that Guyana could not be considered a democratic society and restated his call for a clean voters list.
The Opposition Leader even said that Guyana had achieved food security under the People’s National Congress and Forbes Burnham. Additionally, he charged that his party and Coalition engineered policies and plans that were for “all Guyanese” and therefore could not be seen in the same light as the PPP/C.

Now, most right-thinking and objective viewers would pour cold water on everything they heard from Norton because they know the facts from the web of mistruths and the misinformation spewed by Norton on the T&T programme which was viewed wide and far.

Simply put, Norton was just seemingly inventing and making up false stories and narratives because President Dr Ali had the ears and eyes of the world leaders, regional prime ministers and national leaders in the real world, traditional media and social media.

Norton only had less than 18 minutes of fame on social media.
Firstly, Opposition politicians must be ashamed of their leader.

Norton struggled to convince the public that he even knows what is a credible voters list and reads from a prepared speech to get his figures correct.
Norton in a bid to find fault with the voters list say that it is bloated and padded, and had dead people and migrants on it.

He presented not one iota of empirical proof to support his argument. Then, he moved straight to tell his audience that every observer had said in the 2020 elections, that Guyana needed a credible list and it was only the PPP/C that is against this.

No evidence again or reference to where the PPP/C said it did not want a credible list.
Secondly, Norton was bluffing his way during the 18-minute diatribe in which the interviewer only asked him two questions.

What are these comprehensive proposals and recommendations made to the PPP/C Government to avert the suffering caused by the high cost of living that Norton referred to in his interview?
Norton exposed his double standards and is allegedly stoking racist sentiments when in the interview he used the word “us”. By using the word “us”, Norton has allowed the public to see how he is pitting one group of people against the other (Indians vs Afro-Guyanese) and is, wrongfully, accusing the PPP/C of discrimination.

Norton proved he sees two Guyanas and maybe that is why he is concerned by Dr Ali’s ‘One Guyana’ mantra.
Thirdly, it is a fact that the previous administration was not governing in the interest of all Guyanese but a small group of elites and friends. Where are the stories of Afro-Guyanese empowerment? Where are testimonials of life-changing transformations or success stories that the previous administration has to show in the villages like Buxton, Golden Grove, Agricola, and Hopetown, among others?

Norton was not telling the truth when he said that the previous government was not discriminatory with the salary increases and school bus programme.
Look at those who got the 50 per cent and those who got the crumbs. Look at the places that got the school buses, boats and bicycles then the public would deduce the truth.
Finally, it is far from the truth to say Guyana achieved food security back in the 1960s, 1970s, or 1980s. It simply was not possible with hunger, starvation and poverty making headlines along with the prevailing socio-economic situation at the time.
Norton was caught in yet another bluff.