POLITICAL parties that endure through history are more than mere organisations; they are born out of a genuine sense of purpose. Contrast this with Azruddin Mohamed’s ‘We Invest in Nationhood’ (WIN), which has been declared a party by GECOM not because of any inspiring mission, but simply because it managed to satisfy the minimum legal requirements to contest the 2025 elections.
WIN is, in essence, a startup and no different from nearly two dozen other parties that have emerged since the country’s independence, only to litter the footnotes of our nation’s history.
Take Hardat Persaud’s God Bless Guyana party. Can anyone recall its symbol? A dove carrying a wheat straw? Few do. The party contested the 1997 election, only to be disqualified by 2001. Persaud, for his part, was renowned not as a political heavyweight but as a master polyglot; those who knew him well can attest to his remarkable linguistic talent. Needless to say, he was much more qualified than Azruddin could ever be.
The Good and Green Guyana party, formed by Hamilton Green after his expulsion from the PNC over his vocal opposition to Desmond Hoyte’s electoral reforms, is noteworthy.
Even with his strong ties to the PNC base, Green managed a brief success by winning the 1994 Georgetown City Council election and becoming mayor. Yet by 1997, the party had earned only 0.4% of the vote and no seats in parliament. The voting public realised there was nothing good or green about his party, except the name of its founder, and it quickly became another casualty of Guyana’s political churn. He returned to the party after Hoyte’s death.
A bit more recent was The Citizenship Initiative Party (TCI). Much like WIN in 2025, TCI was established just months before March 2, 2020. It managed to scrape up 680 votes. One would be hard-pressed to find any trace of the party in Guyanese political memory.
What about Ryhaan Shah? An author, journalist, television reporter, and at one time general manager of Guyana’s state TV (GTV), Shah is the winner of the Guyana Prize for Literature for her debut novel, ‘A Silent Life’ (2005). Universally regarded as one of Guyana and the Caribbean’s finest contemporary writers, Shah’s literary and civic influence even saw her listed among The 500 Most Influential Muslims in the world by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre in Amman, Jordan. I, too, share that honour for my work as a journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
I wager Azruddin has neither heard of her nor read her work. Shah once took her civic drive into the political arena, forming the People’s Republic Party in 1988 and contesting the 1992 elections, netting less than 200 votes. While her achievements endure, her party’s memory does not.
Our history abounds with similar stories. Take the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in the early 1990s and the Guyana Democratic Party (GDP) created by Asgar Ally. Ally, after resigning as Finance Minister in Cheddi Jagan’s government, tried his fortunes in the 1997 general elections. He earned a mere 0.6 per cent of the vote, insufficient for a seat in Parliament. Undeterred, Ally attempted to merge with the National Front Alliance in 2000, but when that union fizzled, he tried his luck again in 2001, where his vote share dwindled to 0.3 per cent. By then, the GDP had vanished into history’s footnotes.
Whatever initially inspired Ally to create his own party did not last. Eventually, he endorsed the PPP/C, throwing his support behind Donald Ramotar in the 2011 and 2015 elections. Ally’s talents were formidable. He had places to go and things to do after his failed run for the presidency. He served as deputy governor at the Bank of Jamaica and held advisory positions at the IMF, and had other financial and consultancy gigs. The only spot Azruddin might secure in any future government is perhaps as a consultant on dismantling gold smuggling networks.
This brings us to the present parade of personalities. In response to Denis Chabrol’s softball questions just days ago, Azruddin said he is contesting the elections because children used to call him ‘president.’ He claims his motivation springs from his upbringing and his desire to help single mothers and the poor. Ironically, given the rumours swirling about, he may have played a part in the creation of some of those very single mothers.
Political parties built without purpose, conviction, or public trust have shelf lives measured in months. What has endured are movements born out of genuine vision, collective struggle, and a commitment to nationhood beyond personal ambition or fleeting legal status. The PPP stands tall in this regard.
Meanwhile, Azruddin has been secretly arranging a post-election exit strategy to Venezuela, a narco-state with a dictator in power. Before you roll the dice with WIN, ask yourself, are you willing to waste your vote on one of Azruddin’s vanity projects, much like his collection of expensive cars, which he has undervalued to avoid paying his fair share of taxes?
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.