ON one side of the political aisle of this country, you see a leadership that is confident, strategic, goal-oriented, transparent and determined. From the top down to junior ministers in the PPP/C government, the path to growth and prosperity could never have been clearer for the Guyanese.

That much was evident at President Mohamed Irfaan Ali’s press conference last Thursday. It was nothing short of a world-class performance. He came prepared with a slide projected on two large TV screens that served as a roadmap, not for himself, but rather for his audience – journalists with loads of critical, if not hostile questions.

He addressed the strides his government has made in every major sector from financial reform, to housing, water, agriculture and infrastructure projects. And when demand for electricity exceeded supply, he explained how his government took deliberate steps to add 36 megawatts of energy to the GPL grid and hit the pause button to the country’s ‘blackout woes.’

There was plenty to go on, but the journalists who came with an axe to grind peppered him instead about the U.S. Treasury Department’s sanctions of the Mohameds. The President stated the obvious, the rule of law applies equally to everyone. A reporter shot back: “Didn’t you use a vehicle owned by the Mohameds’ during the 2020 elections?” The President fired back: it is public knowledge that he did, clarifying that his use of the courtesy vehicle ended the day he took office.

For some reason perhaps having to do with their collective amnesia, these same reporters failed to ask the president for his reaction to the resumption of the long-anticipated trial of GECOM officials who stand accused of colluding with members of APNU-AFC to steal the 2020 vote. And no one bothered to ask the President for his reaction to the apparent implosion of Guyana’s official opposition party.

On the opposite side of the political aisle, you see a disparate group with aspirations that borders on hubris. The opposition wants to form the next government, but a week away from the PNC/R’s biennial Congress, no one really knows who is leading the APNU coalition or whether the AFC will stick with the alliance.

Vincent Henry of the Guyana Action Party (GAP) insists on being the chair of APNU. Aubrey Norton, leader of the PNC/R, said he was not notified of the meeting that elected Henry, evidence of a colossal failure in the most basic function of a political party – communication. Norton declared the results of the vote taken at the APNU meeting as “null and void.” Now, he too, is insisting on being the leader of the partnership. It appears that ‘partnership’ and ‘unity’ are proving to be elusive with this group.

During the nomination process, Norton took the bulk of the nominations leaving Roysdale Forde, Amanza Walton-Desir and a slew of others in the dust. Clearly, the voting members of the party want a leader who is untainted by the 2020 scandal.

Forde and Walton-Desir are beholden to former President David Granger, the same PNC/R president who played deaf, dumb and blind while his cadre of servile party insiders carried out his bidding to steal the 2020 vote, according to the Commission of Inquiry into allegations of fraud perpetrated by GECOM and APNU+AFC.

Forde and company have a hard time accepting defeat. They unfurled a list of allegations against Norton and his team, ranging from a tainted membership list to a fraudulent nomination process and the apparent lack of transparency. Norton held his ground, seemingly unphased by trash-talking members of a party with very little finances in its coffers.

Then came a flurry of allegations against Norton from one Egland Gomes, a U.S.-based Guyanese and a supporter of the pro-Granger cabal. Gomes purports himself as someone who has an inside track on the shenanigans taking place in the deep dark rooms of the PNC/R. He questions Norton’s competency and in the same breath praises Forde’s lack of political baggage. To an outsider, it sounds as if he is praising a political neophyte, a person with big ambitions and zero leadership experience. Spin goes two ways – clockwise and counter-clockwise. Scoring points before Justice Sandil Kissoon can cause a lawyer to feel swell-headed.

And just last week, Gomes coughed up a startling allegation of sexual assault against Norton. It forced Norton to respond and he did so without hesitation. The alleged victim in question issued her version of the alleged incident which apparently took place in Norton’s vehicle somewhere along the Soesdyke-Linden highway. There were of course no eye-witnesses to the alleged incident. I am forced to use “alleged” many times because it comes down to a person’s reputation and who is to be believed.

As the days and hours inch closer to the PNC/R much delayed Congress it will be interesting for Guyanese to compare the fabric of two political parties. The PPP/C stands tall and proud of its achievements and on the other hand, the PNC/R is gasping in the pool and the laps haven’t even started.