IT has been rumoured since last year that Aubrey Norton is chaperoning Terrence Campbell for leadership of the PNC. On becoming parliamentary leader of the APNU parliamentary group, he is on record as saying that APNU will campaign in PPP’s constituencies. He named Port Morant and Babu John. For more on this see my column of Friday, September 26, 2025, “The Hinds/Campbell showdown in APNU.”
Last week, Hinds took a startling position on the future of the PNC. He did not say APNU. He said the PNC. What Hinds as an APNU parliamentarian enunciated is a PNC disaster in the making. His output was shocking, disturbing, politically insane, and borders on the oxymoron as being comically dangerous. It will take more than one column to expose the craziness in what Hinds mouthed off.
He argued that history has shown that every election the PNC won, it did so by consolidating and protecting its African base and because the PNC knows that it cannot win solely with its African base, it has sought covenant with parties that could bring crossover votes (CVs). That happened and the PNC won four times.
In 1964, the United Force brought the CVS. In 2011, 2015 and 2020 (but in 2020, the PPP cheated), the PNC won those elections because the AFC brought the CVs. In 2025, he believes the PNC lost because it did not seek out a coalition partner to bring in the CVs. He added that unfortunately, in 2025, the PNC did not “run up” (his words) its African base. That is for another discussion.
He went on to add that the PPP lost in 2020 and 2025 because it is incapable of winning even with CVs so in 2020 and 2025, it rigged the national elections and in 2025, it also bought votes. In effect the PPP is incapable of winning an election on its own but that is for another column. All the PNC leaders should listen to what Hinds outlined because he is part of the APNU coalition and APNU as the entire world knows is led by the PNC.
Now do the two senior leaders in the PNC – Ganesh Mahipaul and Terrence Campbell – accept the theory of Hinds? What are the danger signals in Hind’s output?
One—the PNC has been destined to lose elections, only if it teams up with a partner that adds the CVs to the African base of the PNC. Which party of historic significance, like the PNC, is willing to admit that it cannot go beyond its African base? Forbes Burnham and Desmond Hoyte as PNC leaders attracted dozens of high-level non-African and Indian Guyanese, many of whom were from the PPP. An Indian PPP defector, Ranji Chandisingh became the PNC’s general secretary and Vincent Teekah was being schooled to be second in charge. Desmond Hoyte seriously courted Indian Guyanese.
Two— If Mahipaul and Campbell accept the theory of the indispensability of the partner that will bring the CVs, then that smaller partner will determine what the PNC must do and what the shape of the government must be like. A simple analogy will suffice. You have a back house and need the space in front of your premise to publicise your manufactures.
That front house owner is going to crucify you with a high price because he knows you need him to survive. What Hinds has said is that the United Force (UF) and the AFC brought the PNC to power and the PNC would have had power in 2025 if it had a partner to do for the PNC what the AFC and UF did – bring in the CVs. So, in 2030, if the PNC seeks out a partner for the elections and that partner knows that it alone can bring the PNC to power, then it has the latitude to dictate to the PNC.
What will be the PNC’s response? It has only one card to play – tell its partner that without the PNC’s African base, your CVs will not propel you into power. That is a point, but who is in a stronger position to bargain? The answer is the smaller partner. And that is what happened in 2025. The AFC told the PNC you need us to get into government so we will decide the shape of things. The PNC rebuffed the AFC and the rest is history. But a fact needs to be mentioned about 2025. There was no longer a PNC African base. The base went over to Azruddin Mohamed. So contextually, the PNC’s may not have a future.
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.
