THE AFC is getting so desperate that its self-destruction is assured. To think that an opposition party in the face of invasion threats from an aggressive neighbour of superior military might could utter what I will describe below, is the occasion for every Guyanese to ostracise this party. No one should have anything to do even remotely with the AFC.
The AFC expressed the following words about the Guyana Government – “while the PPP leadership have (sic) personal stakes abroad in safer, foreign lands, ordinary Guyanese will be left to face the consequences of Venezuelan actions.” I ask every Guyanese to think about those words and how the Venezuelan leadership would interpret them.

I am contending that words could be an encouragement to Venezuela. No organisation, I repeat, no organisation should utter those words when its country is facing a threat of invasion. The AFC is telling the Venezuelans that the Guyana Government has contingency plans in the event of Venezuelan moves. That is simply not true. It is ignorance to believe that the United States would allow Venezuela to invade Guyana.
It is ignorance to assume Guyana’s powerful friends would allow Guyana to be overtaken by Venezuela. It is not love of Guyana that would prevent that; it is their own national security interests that would motivate them to stop Venezuela. What the AFC has done is to tell the Venezuelans that if they invade, our government will run.

By what weird psychological thinking did the AFC arrive at that position? The entire AFC statement plays into the hands of Venezuela. Here is more: “The government has no stomach for a fight with Venezuela and instead chooses gimmickry and falsehoods to hide the reality from the Guyanese people of how bad the situation is.”

I ask again, how do you think the Venezuelans are interpreting those words? In times of invasion crisis, no citizen should do what the AFC has done. How can you inform the nation that wants to take over your country that your government has no capacity to face the enemy and fight them?
The AFC has crossed the line and should be banished from the face of this country. I want to see how Guyana relates to the AFC after what the AFC has announced about the Venezuelan threat.

Here are more anti-patriotic sentiments from the AFC: “It is troubling, in the face of these threats the President and Vice President are obviously more focused on getting re-elected than on protecting our sovereignty and preparing Guyanese for something awful on the horizon.”
The AFC is informing Guyanese that there is something bad coming to Guyana. So how did the AFC get that information? As a political activist and a public intellectual, I will say to Guyanese there is nothing awful coming. Maduro can go on his jingoistic rants every day, but he knows he cannot invade Guyana and he himself will face an invasion by superior forces.

So the Guyanese people must ask the AFC what terrible is coming and where did it procure that piece of security intelligence from? For an almost non-existent party it is clear that to get publicity, the AFC is prepared to jeapordise the territorial integrity of Guyana for the political desperation of staying alive.

The anti-nationalist stance of the AFC is easy to explain. It says anti-Guyana things about the Venezuelan threat and it finds itself in the press as what I am doing here.
But the publicity the AFC seeks has backfired on it. It has taken a dangerous anti-Guyana position in the face of Venezuela aggression, and no party will want to touch it in a coalition. To put it simply – the AFC has become persona non grata in this country.
Finally, a word of information. The AFC noted that the PPP is busy with the imminent general election. But no other party is more active on the election campaign front than the AFC. For the past two months, the AFC has been meeting other parties for coalition purposes. Not a day passes that the AFC isn’t exploring coalition prospects; its latest confabulation was with Team Mohamed.

So if the AFC knows we are facing a serious threat from Venezuela why isn’t it in a different mode? Why does it not shift gear to mobilise the Guyanese people rather than spending its days looking for coalition partners? I end with a call to every Guyanese. Please read the statement the AFC put out and examine your conscience and tell your fellow Guyanese if the AFC should not be completely banished from our beloved Guyana

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.