Dear Editor,

THE breakdown of negotiations between the PNC and the AFC has done more than end the possibility of an opposition alliance. It has exposed, in broad daylight, what truly motivates these two parties. Not service. Not country. Not vision. But power. Naked, bitter, grasping power.

Over the last few days, Guyanese citizens have had a front-row seat to the unravelling of what was clearly never a coalition built on principle.

It began with a final proposal from the AFC, offering APNU a 65 to 35 split while reserving the prime ministerial post for itself. Within hours, Aubrey Norton rejected it. There was no interest in compromise. After all, he already had he wanted.

In response, AFC Leader Nigel Hughes was forced to admit that a joint list now seemed, in his words, “marginal at best.”

His disappointment was evident, but it came too late. By then, three AFC parliamentarians had already defected to join APNU.

In a revealing move, Sherod Duncan, Juretha Fernandes, and Ricky Ramsaroop all defected without waiting for the talks to formally end. Their loyalty, one can infer, was never to the AFC or to principle. It was to proximity to power.

And if any doubt remained about the nature of these negotiations, they were shattered when businessman Terrence Campbell publicly admitted to Kaieteur News on June 18 that he had promised to “break Norton’s hand” to force the PNC to accept a deal.

This is the kind of language that defined the talks. Not the language of partnership. The language of pressure. The language of desperation.

Even senior figures on the periphery of the opposition have grown alarmed. Just days before the final collapse, former President David Granger called on his colleagues to “refocus on policy, not power.” But his words were ignored.

The quarrels continued. The leaks increased. And with every passing day, the public was treated to more evidence that this was never about the people. It was about positioning.

Meanwhile, the governing People’s Progressive Party continues to do what it has always done. Work. Deliver. Build. While the opposition traded insults and bargaining terms, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo was in Region Ten launching over ten billion dollars in new investments, including job creation and infrastructure development.

While APNU and the AFC were writing press releases, President Irfaan Ali was confirming that the four-lane highway from Enmore to Ogle will proceed, along with the development of a new industrial zone that will transform the East Coast corridor.

There is a stark contrast before the nation. On one side, a government that remains focused on service and delivery. On the other, an opposition that cannot agree on who should sit at the head of the table, even as the table itself collapses beneath them.

The Guyanese people deserve better than petty quarrels and hunger for office. They deserve hospitals and schools. They deserve safety and housing. They deserve a government that puts them first. That is what the PPP has offered. That is what the PPP continues to deliver.

Let the country take note.

The opposition parties have, time and time again, shown us who they are. We would be wise to believe them.

Sincerely,

Alfonso De Armas