THE political opposition continues to peddle a false narrative of racial and political discrimination in Guyana. It continues to project the narrative of having been ‘cheated’ out of office in the March 2020 General and Regional Elections when the facts prove otherwise.

Now in its most recent distortion, the PNC Leader has once again made the preposterous allegation of Afro-Guyanese being discriminated against in terms of the awards of government contracts.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The evidence will show that the PPP/C administration has been extremely even-handed in the manner in which the resources of the state are being administered. This is true for the allocation of jobs in the public sector, the distribution of house lots, access to social services; indeed, in all facets of national life. This, seemingly, is posing a problem for the political opposition which has been trying, thankfully unsuccessfully to play the race card for perceived narrow political ends.

The fact of the matter is that nothing that the PPP/C administration does would be enough to change its biased views and twisted opinions on the ongoing progress made in the country. As pointed out by Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, at his most recent press conference, the PNC Leader Aubrey Norton is clutching at straws in an attempt to seek political relevance.

There are already indications of growing tension, both at the leadership and rank and file levels, over the leadership style of Norton. And only recently, the junior partner in the APNU+AFC coalition had cause to sever ties as a member of the coalition. The WPA has also signalled its intention to break ranks with the APNU alliance.

According to Dr. Jagdeo, who is also General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party, the PNC is faced with a much bigger problem. “The Norton problem is a bigger issue. He doesn’t want Afro-Guyanese to progress in the country so that it can fit into his jaundiced narrative of discrimination. So, they will come out hard against any progressive Guyanese or people who are developing,” Jagdeo said.

It is precisely that jaundiced thinking on the part of the PNC that constrained it from recognising the enormous progress that is taking place in all regions of the country. Not even a state-of-the-art stadium in Linden will suffice. The PNC is critical of the construction of the stadium on the spurious grounds that ‘Linden plays football’ and that ‘Lindeners want a ground up to FIFA standards rather than ICC standards’. And as if that were not ludicrous enough, he went on to say that, “If we want an ICC ground, we should use the one that Kashif and Shanghai used to hold a dance on for playing cricket.”

The PNC seems politically bankrupt and is seeking to play politics with sports. It has been largely unsuccessful in stirring up racial hostility in the country and is now seeking to use sports to drive a wedge between the two major ethnic groups in the country.

With Nomination Day for Local Government Elections tomorrow, the schism in the coalition is all the more apparent. The PNC is still to officially indicate its readiness to participate in the elections. Both the AFC and the WPA had already indicated that they will not contest the elections, no doubt in anticipation of poor performance at the polls.

The PPP/C, for its part, has indicated its full readiness to contest the elections. According to Jagdeo, the PPP/C alliance is confident that the electorate will vote overwhelmingly in favour of the ruling party as it did in the previous elections. In fact, the party hopes to improve its performance in all the contested areas including those that were considered PNC strongholds.

Meanwhile, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has indicated that all systems are in place for Nomination Day.