I BELIEVE the existence of political parties, media houses, civil society groups, independent professionals, independent-minded entrepreneurs, and trade unions in any country make for the sustaining and deepening of a democratic society. The logic is commonsensical. And one need not dwell on it. Every head of government in the world would not be so shortsighted to deny that more actors in a country bring more watchmen and thus more eyes are on people who want to do bad things.

In relation to politics, the more participants you have in the arena, the more choices are available. I have been around too long in the pubic eyes to feel ashamed to say what I believe in. In fact, all my life, I have mouthed off the things I believe in much to the terrible consequences I had to live with.

I am not afraid to say which party I have chosen, which party I voted for and will vote for. I have done literally countless columns running into thousands and thousands and in that ocean of commentaries and analyses, I have announced how I voted since I started to vote. In the 2020 election, I voted for Amerindian leader, Lenox Shuman.

On Monday, I will vote for the PPP to administer the city of Georgetown. It is commonsensical, pragmatic, rational and logical to do so. There are independent candidates in the fight. I have a healthy respect for independent voices but in the LGE next Monday, the stakes are too high to vote for an independent name.

That leaves two options –the PNC and the PPP. Let’s do the analysis. The PNC has not administered the central treasury since 1992. That was the year the central government changed hands from PNC to PPP. From 1992, the PPP has been the national government (except 2015-2020), while the PNC had had the majority in the City Council. I have lived in Georgetown since 1992 and still do.

I have seen Georgetown under the PNC suffered from lack of funds for decades and the result was a city so stink and so macabre in appearance that I once wrote that not even in a country with a raging civil war would the capital look so uncivilized.

I believe in my heart that this state of affairs will continue simply because it takes money to administer Georgetown and a municipal government run by the PNC in 2023 will not have the resources to make the capital a functioning part of Guyana. How do I know this? Because I live in Georgetown and I see the rut daily.

I live in a compound where high-level diplomats and top EXXON officials reside and the entire gutter system of my compound has been clogged for years. You go to a religious service or civil function in any house in the compound where I live and the overflowing of gutters is an atrocity to see.

Over the years, I have spoken to City Council people who mean well but told me that they simply do not have the labour and the financial resources to do what is required. That is the reality. You could be the most dye-in-the-wool PNCite; you could be the person who is willing to die for the PNC; you could be the person who thinks the PNC is the best thing on Planet Earth, but after you feel that way, look at Georgetown and then, smell the coffee.

If the PNC wins, Georgetown will deteriorate not because of a coming earthquake but because the municipality needs dozens of billions to run it but the City Council under the PNC in 2023 and onwards will not have the resources. Enter pragmatism. So a philosopher will ask why the PPP government does not recognise the PNC’s urban endurance and City Council money to run the capital.

No argument can be more putrid and silly. And that would never happen in politics anywhere in the world because it gives voters a blank check to be reckless, masochistic and self-destructive. Why are you going to vote for a party that cannot civilize your city but you expect the central government to bankroll the party you voted for?

But you have a perfect, impeccable option. The party with central power that you want to offer money to the other party in the City Council is itself asking for your vote because it wants to administer the city too. So if the central party has the money to civilize the city, and it is asking for your vote, commonsense should dictate that you give it your ballot. And let’s see what it will do with the city.