I WAS intrigued at the crossover of long-standing PNC stalwart Wayne Maison to the PPP. This was not the Maison I knew. He was a dyed-in-the-wool PNC cadre. He reinforced that perception I had of him as recent as three months ago.
I knew Maison over a 10-year period when I was a critic of the PPP government. After my politics changed after the 2020 elections disaster, unlike a majority of PNC and AFC personalities who knew me closely, he was never hostile to me; on the contrary, he maintained his friendly posture.
So I called him three months ago to chat on the Freddie Kissoon Show. He was the same friendly person I always knew. In our conversation, Maison suggested that I “come back.” He said, “We want you to come back.” That friendly response I appreciated because he was different from those who continue to demonise me, including the then editor of the Stabroek News, who referred to me as a PPP lapdog.
In our conversations since 2020, Maison has never showed any animosity towards the changed political person I had become. How Maison reacted when I invited him to be on the Freddie KIssoon Show is the type of attitude all PNC politicians should have adopted since the PNC, the AFC and WPA lost the 2020 elections.
It is sensible, strategic, and pragmatic politics. Maison is way ahead of those that he shared a political relationship with in the PNC. The sensible thing to do is to speak to people whose politics you disagree with by showing a touch of respect and understanding. Instead, what PNC and AFC people have done is to abuse those that they once had a comradely relationship with.
In every instance when a PNC personality or a PPP critic crosses over to the PPP, the reaction is inevitably one of insult. Either you are a soup-drinker, a house slave, or singing for your supper, or in my situation, a PPP lapdog, or as Nigel Westmaas described me – a PPP attack dog.
James Bond told me on election day last year he was with his family going to vote when Terrence Campbell yelled out “house slave.” Bond told me he was incensed because he felt that Campbell should have observed protocol because he was with his family. I totally agree with Bond. You should leave family out of the equation.
I have never read a statement from any PNC leader expressing regret that one of their comrades went over to the PPP and wishing that as the months and years move on that the person would reconsider. I have never read a statement from any PNC big-wig wishing the person well with their new politics and reminding them that they still have a place in the party if they should ever change their mind.
This is commonsensical politics. You leave room for the person to reconsider because you have shown respect. At the time of writing, I haven’t seen the reaction of the PNC’s leadership to Maison’s endorsement of the PPP, but as night follows day, there is going to be some unpleasant words.
It is as if these people lack the knowledge of the ABCs of politics. It is as if they don’t know a damn thing about politics. Leading that ineffective pack is Ganesh Mahipal. What Mahipal did to me has caused me to lose the residue of respect I had for him.
I couldn’t believe when I read what he did and when I describe what he did, you will understand that it is Maison today, and tomorrow there will be another defection, and the next day there will be further defections, and that is because the PNC is intellectually and politically a bankrupt organisation.
I knew Mahipal from the days when he was a student and I, a lecturer at UG. Plus, the Wakenaam connection left a sentiment in me because of my wife’s family roots in Wakenaam. So Ganesh and I over the years would have some sensitive discussions and I would offer advice to him.
I was in shock when I read that Ganesh had chastised two NCN journalists for having only PPP ministers as guests and not opposition politicians. He advised the two journalists to give both sides an opportunity. He cited as examples, interview programmes by Sherod Duncan and Enrico Woolford that accommodate both sides.
It was a gargantuan act of political dishonesty and Ganesh Mahipal is the embodiment of political dishonesty. Duncan and Woolford do not invite PPP personalities, only PNC politicians. It is the Freddie Kissoon Show that has PNC and PPP guests; Mahipal appeared four times. Mahipal did not mention my show. He and his party are hopeless failures.
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.