I AM opening myself to stretching the use of the word context where it has been irrelevantly applied. I agree yet I did agree. I agree in the sense that the PNCR-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) will be in parliament today holding 12 seats and not just one or two.

Contextually, it can be argued that given the monumental status of the PNC and its founding leader since 1957, given the fact that since 1957 power has alternated between opposition and government in the PNC and the PPP and now there is no PNC Opposition Leader in Parliament, makes it surreal to the point where the imagination is justified in seeing the invisibility of the PNC in the National Assembly today.

From the time the unity of Cheddi Jagan and Forbes Burnham broke up, and the PNC was born, Guyana’s politics, sociology and political economy centred on the that party and PPP. From 1957 onwards, Guyana was about the PPP and PNC. Major third parties came and took some share of power. The UF had a major slice of power from 1964 to 1968 but Guyana still in that time was about the PNC and PPP.

Burnham birthed totalitarian power from out of a democratic polity from 1970 until he died in 1985. He made the PNC paramount to the state, and the PNC became coterminous with the state, yet, in that period of dictatorship, the PPP survived and grew bigger, and Guyana was about the PNC and the PPP.

Walter Rodney came and confronted Burnham and failed to generate a mass uprising against Burnham in 1979 because Rodney thought he could do it without the other half of Guyana – the PPP. From there on, the song that was sung was the same – Guyana was the PPP and PNC.

In 1984, a year before he died, President Burnham acknowledged that Guyana was the PPP and the PNC, so he set in motion a configuration for power to be shared between the PNC and PPP.

For the details of this see the book by Guyana’s current ambassador to Cuba, Halim Majeed titled, “Forbes Burnham: National Reconciliation and National Unity, 1984, 1985.”

Burnham died in 1985 but that did not change how Guyana’s veins ran through its body.

Guyana was the PPP and the PNC after Burnham’s death. The PPP secured power in 1992 and in that election and all subsequent elections, the PPP won but the PNC wanted the world to know that Guyana had two Leviathans, and this was what Guyana was about – the PNC and PPP.

So, the PNC instigated mo fyaah/ slo fyaah in 1997 and was involved in the Buxton violence that lasted from Mash 2002 to 2006. The object was to let the world know that there can be no Guyana without the PNC.  The AFC secured a huge slice of government from 2015 to 2020 but Guyana in that period had the biology that it had since Burnham and Jagan split – the story of the country was about these two parties. Then came the biggest clash, more impactful than mo fyaah/slo fyaah and the Buxton rampage.

It was the clash of the giants fighting for a petro-state named Guyana. The episode revolved around the theme of Forbes Burnham – Guyana belonged to the PNC so the PNC should not lose national elections. The world intervened and the Caribbean Court of Justice ruled that the PPP had legitimately won the 2020 general election.

In September 2020, the PNC made another stand to show the world that the country was one half PNC/R and one-half PPP. Violence was instigated in Cotton Tree with the pretext being the murder of two African youths but that was the cover for post-election violence. By some strange psychic contortion, after the PNC lost the Cotton Tree battle, its physiology became weaker and weaker. The Stabroek News and the Kaieteur News, the Guyana Human Rights Association and some civil rights entities became the de facto opposition.

The PNC began a journey of slow death from 2023. By 2025, when the national election came, the writing on the wall was conspicuously graphic – the PNC was dying. It will have no dramatic, visible presence in parliament today, Monday, November 3. By 2030, the PNC will be gone forever.

I will miss the PNC. I had memorable moments with leaders of the party as a UG student and a UG lecturer. Many of them were warm and friendly with me. The one regret I have in my life is when in 1979 and 1984 Forbes Burnham sent to call me to meet with him. With typical youthful bravo, I refused. I have never been a fan of the party or had any formal or enduring association with it, but I cannot help but feel sad that the PNC is dying.

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.