Put aside the budget debates for a moment and let’s talk about the Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton’s seeming call for violence at the next general elections slated for November 2025.

Norton, while speaking to not more than 300 supporters at an APNU+AFC rally about the cost of living, hinted at his plan for the upcoming elections if the party doesn’t win, basically.

Using covert language and linguistics, Norton told the crowd that “… He who can handle the gun is in a better position” and “to let the PPP start feeling.” He also said, “When we finish beating them, we gon got to take them on.”
The Opposition Leader continued to preach about his plans for winning the upcoming election using very strong, emotive language, and clandestine “isms.” He said everything to get the crowd incensed and to make them feel discriminated and sidelined by the PPP/C.

Also, he clearly distinguished himself from the former party leader and former President of Guyana David Granger when he spoke to the issue of employment in the government, should his party win the next poll.
He said, “When we were in government, I remember David Granger saying ‘we didn’t ask you which political party you support. We kept you to work. All we want you to do is to serve the people’…Many of them sabotaged us. I’m saying to you that won’t happen again.”

Norton continued to hint at the use of violence to remove the PPP/C from government throughout his time on the podium. Norton is serious and should be taken seriously.
This is a man who is so fixated on power and control, he doesn’t care about the consequences of his words or approach. He does not care about the PNC/R or its infamous history with rigging elections or violence.

Surely, he doesn’t care about law and order. From his perspective, the only path to getting that power again, is by seeming blood and struggle; that is why he used the analogy with the “gun.”
Norton means every single word if he is to be the presidential candidate for the opposition.

The saying goes, “what a sober mind conceals, a drunken mind reveals,” and Norton may have not been drunk in this particular instance, but the Guyanese public was given insight into his mind and manner of thinking. This is the core philosophy of Norton.

The Vice President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo did the right thing on Thursday when he drew attention to Norton’s seeming sinister utterances and said that the full force of the law will be in place, should they do as Norton is hinting.

The Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) must keep its antennas up and be on the lookout for politicians like Norton who is bold and testy with his utterances which are almost criminal and divisive. The ERC, like the police, can ill afford to have these politicians or parties say such irresponsible and ethnically loaded utterances.

They must come down on the language and rhetoric of the politicians before they get a chance to act.
The ERC and police must not issue a statement. That is not enough. Both agencies have Heads that must be seen having meetings and articulating the policies with regards to this kind of violence and race mongering. They must get out of their comfortable offices and be seen. They are way too important to be hidden away.

Guyana has matured and our democracy is strong. Norton and other politicians must know that the Guyanese public is not going to respond to any call for violence or anything that will affect the peace, tranquility and safety of the country. Norton should be condemned for this seeming rally to violence.

Africans, in particular, should shun him because Norton is disrespectful to bring that sort of language and linguistics to them at this point in time when people are constantly trying to better themselves and lives. He is underestimating the intelligence of every African adult and young person that forms part of the electorate next year.

Guns are not the answer. The fighting and violence are not the answer. The Guyanese public wants to hear about policies, programmes and ideas to fix the problems existing in the public sector and other sectors. They are an educated population that is in no way interested in politics of violence and will choose peace every time.

Norton can play with violence if he wants to but it will not secure him a place in the hearts of the Guyanese public. He will get no closer to the presidency. It will not disabuse the public from looking to a modern, stable and forward-thinking opposition leader who doesn’t think impulsively or emotionally.