I USED to have a fair plausible relation with UK-based PNC activist, Norman Browne. I thought Browne, though PNC in his orientation, had an independent way of seeing the complex nuances of politics in a country Guyana – whose politics is alternate between unimaginable and amorphous.
I ended my contact with Browne when I found out that he was not only a political dunce but intellectually barren. The occasion was a social media interview he had with me over my departure at the beginning of 2023 from Kaieteur News (KN). Instead of listening to the choices people make, why they make

it and the aftermath of their thoughts, he tried to score cheap propagandistic points by emotionally ranting at me that I was only now criticising Glenn Lall because I have left the paper.
Browne was too mentally arid to see that though what he was saying was right the story did not end there and has a valuable dimension as to why you only criticise now and why you didn’t do that before. I tried to explain to Browne why I am doing it now that I have left, and was hoping he would see the complexity of choices that faces one in difficult situations.

I was annoyed at Browne during the interview because he would not listen to the myriad occasions when I jeopardised my stay at KN by confronting Lall on the sordid things he did to staff and the cruel violations he perpetuated.
All Brown was concerned about in the interview was to accuse me of criticising Lall. Browne, of course, knew from my KN columns since 2020 that I had become critical of the election rigging and from August 2020 was writing in support of the Ali presidency.
So his outburst in the interview was to get at a supporter of President Ali not to listen to political analysis. Since then, I thought that Browne cannot contribute anything insightful to political discourse in this country. I read a letter by him in last Sunday newspapers eulogising the electoral success a big tent movement will have in defeating the PPP.

The letter is both comical and outdated. Here are a few notes to educate Browne on how big tent politics started and why big tent politics, if it ever emerges, will end up being a tenebrific outcast.
The original big tent politics was the idea of Ravi Dev, the WPA, AFC and Robert Corbin. This was a credible political movement without any racial poison and racial exchange as part of its metabolism.
The idea of the big tent back then was to form a broad-based alliance to attract enough Guyanese votes to win power. It had no racial preachers that appealed to racial constituencies. Yes, Ravi Dev was seen as an Indian rights activist and the PNC was seen as an African party, but in pursuing a big tent option none of the parties openly took expressed racist sentiments to the point where none of the constituents feared Dev’s Indian party and the PNC.

There is nothing in 2025 among opposition political parties that resembles the environment that brought big tent ideas to life back then. Browne in an expression of comicality and stupidity put the names of David Hinds and Ubraj Narine alongside each other. Could a big tent in 2025 survive with David Hinds in it? Browne lives in the UK the past 40 years. He doesn’t know people like Ubraj Narine.

The former Mayor was the deputy campaign manager for Roysdale Forde for PNC leadership. Narine is among several Indians who are in the periphery in the current PNC leadership. Narine watched as David Hinds described his PNC colleague, Geeta Chandan as a slave-catcher because Ms. Chandan denounced insults heaped upon the Indian race by a WPA speaker at a public meeting.

Can Ubraj Narine and Geeta Chandan get Indian votes in a big tent with David Hinds? The answer is no. Browne lives too far away from Guyana to know that Aubrey Norton is not electable. And who says that in the most resounding way? The Alliance For Change? Nigel Hughes made the point with pellucid magnetism – Aubrey Norton is not electable.

In the previous attempt at big tent politics, there were some fairly credible names – Clive Thomas, Rupert Roopnaraine, Khemraj Ramjattan, Ravi Dev, and Raphael Trotman.
Who are the credible names that can lead a big tent movement in 2025? That is the extent to which opposition politics has lost its raison d’être. Once the tent is set up, I would advise people to get out from under it. It will collapse within minutes of being hoisted. The collapsed tent can kill you.

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.