I POSITED in several columns on this page, since the results of the 2025 general and regional elections, that the personality and style of President Dr Irfaan Ali contributed profoundly to the crossover vote and the total votes the PPP/C received.
Ali, in contrast to his opponents, did not come across as crass, abusive and wild. These characteristics were in comparison to the opposition parties. Opposition parties suffered from the lunacy of the lunatic fringe. While the opposition could not be held responsible for the morbid and scatological dictionary of those racist extremists who sit on the negative fence of social media, the opposition did not denounce them, and in fact, in one instance, Aubrey Norton showered praise on one of them.
Azruddin Mohamed laughed at APNU during the campaign. While the PNC, the WPA and the AFC were cussing down, Ali did not. It may explain why he stole PNC votes because PNC supporters were turned off at Lincoln Lewis, David Hinds, Rickford Burke, Mark Benschop, Aubrey Norton and Terrence Campbell, among others.
We think we know this country, but maybe we don’t. Things are not what they appear to be. I have a theory of Guyanese politics that argues that all anti-government critics, including political parties and civil society groups, were rejected by the Guyanese people because anti-hate insanity, which began with the victory of the PPP/C in the 2020 election, reached the point of dead effectiveness because people just got deeply resentful about the stuck record of anti-government hate.
What we have in this country is not anti-government critiques, anti-government polemics, or anti-government reasoning. The term for it is anti-government hate, and in 2023, it reached the point of diminishing returns. The PNC, AFC, ANUG, Guyana Human Rights Association, Stabroek News, Kaieteur News, Red Thread, and Transparency Institute- Guyana Chapter could have gotten more receptivity from their criticism of the government if their condemnations of the government were measured, reasonable, rational and mature.
But it wasn’t criticism; it was and still is a daily outpouring of hate. People just got fed up with the hate. Once they read and listened, it was the same thing over and over. It went like this – the PPP leaders are the most terrible rulers in the world, and they do not do anything good for Guyana. People rejected that permanent sermon because they think it was insane rambling. Of course, it hasn’t stopped.
I learnt something valuable about Guyanese society during two episodes of the Freddie Kissoon Show. We had Christopher Ram as our guest. Shortly after, we had Lenox Shuman. On a Facebook posting or a podcast, you can tell the reaction to the programme because there is an inbuilt system of registering the number of viewers.
Christopher Ram is hyped up by the Stabroek News, which has given him more coverage than any newspaper in any part of the world has given a non-politician at the moment. But how much do we think we know this country? The viewership of Ram’s interview was less than a third of what Shuman got. I could not believe it, nor could the co-host Leonard Craig.
How do you explain that fact? Ram is one of the leading attackers on the government, yet he had limited viewership. More people wanted to hear what Shuman had to say about Guyana than Ram. The reason is they anticipated what Ram would say because, like the GHRA, the Stabroek News, the Kaieteur News, David Hinds and others, they know it would be an anti-government, insane ranting.
I am convinced in my mind that David Hinds is absolutely ineffective because he comes across as unsound. He keeps the mentally limited supporters he has, but those numbers will never increase. It is the same with Stabroek News, Kaieteur News, GHRA, Transparency Institute –Guyana Chapter, Red Thread, etc.
These people and these organisations will never accept that their anti-government insanity played a role in the election results in which President Ali was seen as the saner and more logical actor than his detractors. These people and organisations will continue to play a negative role in Guyana.
Let me give you an example that occurred last week. Opposition personality, Dr Mark France, said on the Freddie Kissoon Show that Singapore is more democratic than Guyana. Now, when people read that, with the billions of smartphones in people’s hands, they will Google Singapore. When they do that, they may not believe further political pronouncements by Dr France. Guyana is trillions of miles ahead of Singapore on any scale that measures democratic governance.
Today, Sunday, December 7, read the editorial of Kaieteur News and Stabroek News. There will be nothing new. Not even a paragraph acknowledging any positive thing the government did. Today and tomorrow, it will be pure anti-government hate.
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.