AMANZA Walton-Desir (AWD) had to pass between me and Nanda Gopaul as she was leaving the day of appreciation for Rupert Roopnaraine because I was talking to Dr. Gopaul and we were blocking exit. As she passed, she indicated to me that I know how to contact her so I should do so whenever I write about her.
Weeks before, I had published a no-nonsense critique of something terribly absurd that she said. It was that the PPP has captured the GECOM’s election machinery. I know she had that column in mind when she made her remark. I did not see the point and there is no point to be made. National politicians and parliamentarians echo things almost daily.
What they say make the news. It becomes an impossible task to seek them out whenever their remarks reverberate. But most importantly, their perspectives on things can be analysed on their own merit and thus seeking to contact them is completely unnecessary.
I am commenting here on two recent pronouncements of AWD and I honestly do not think contacting her for a comment is necessary because these are positions which she has taken, and those approaches could be analysed based on the contents. Before I do so, I hereby inform readers that based on her advice to me about writing about her, I called her about 10 times about this column. I never got a return call.
First, she called upon the opposition to unite and stop infighting. She should have thought long and hard about that public remark before she made it. The opposition is in disarray over chastisements by their own on issues of principles. And AWD is an object of such condemnation. Even before the ink was dried on the document making her a parliamentarian, she was assailed by seniors in her own coalition entity of reneging on the shape of parliamentary representation by her coalition movement named, Forward Guyana.
Two of her coalition partners, Dorwin Bess and Francis Bailey have been acidic in their public accusations against AWD. Francis Bailey said on his Facebook page that for the parliamentary life of AWD, he will continue with his criticism. That means he will be going after AWD for the next five years. AWD said she is finished with the matter but Bailey said he will keep the issue alive. Charity begins at home, so AWD has to get her house in order before she lectures the political leaders of the government.
But AWD puts herself in the spotlight when she advocates opposition unity. There was no opposition unity on her mind when she was wronged by the PNC under Aubrey Norton’s leadership. She left the PNC thus fracturing it. She got votes that probably would have gone to the PNC and AFC. Had she not split the votes, the AFC would have gotten a seat in parliament.
Secondly, just as she appeals for opposition unity for the sake of Guyana, she has to speak out against inter-opposition conspiracies that are also not good for Guyana. It was the then Treasurer of the PNC and executive member, Elson Low, using unambiguous grammar, who said on the Freddie Kissoon Show that there was no democratic selection of persons to represent the PNC in parliament. Mr. Norton made assignments himself.
The, then Deputy Leader of the PNC, Sherwyn Holder, publicly said he had no input into the selection process. He, himself was not sent to parliament. Mr. Mervin Williams, another party executive resigned after the parliamentarians were named. A political party has to be a bizarre entity not worthy of national respect when even the deputy leader was not consulted over parliamentary representation.
Thirdly, if she wants opposition unity then she has to address behavioural trends in the opposition that makes the opposition weak. It was Ganesh Mahipaul who exposed devious tendencies in the opposition ranks. He publicly said that WIN is in a dominant mode and the PNC will not be railroaded by WIN.
He explained that the proposal for sharing show Cabinet posts went like this: 11 for WIN, 8 for PNC, one for Forward Guyana. Instead, WIN wanted 13, the PNC will have six, and the six PNC positions must be selected by WIN. The combined opposition has entered the realm of insipidity. How can one opposition party tell another opposition entity who must be their Shadow Cabinet spokesperson?
Finally, AWD said she will not attack another woman politician personally. This statement is full of contradictions. First, people in politics, especially legislators should not attack their male and female colleagues personally. I am at a loss to understand why she referenced women only. Is she saying that she will exempt women politicians from personal attacks but men are fair game? I think she made a mistake. She should acknowledge it.
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.
