IT takes great testicular fortitude, which the entire Opposition camp seemingly lack, to defend the territorial integrity of one’s country. That too against envoys of some of the most powerful nations on earth.

Peace, progress and prosperity in a united nation is a concept to which Opposition elements seemingly remain strangers.
However, the governing PPP seems to be a party that has always espoused the precepts of unity and peace in the national landscape because there has never been, and may never be, any need for physical confrontations when the PPP/C boasts such weapons as brilliant minds, patriotic dispositions and razor-sharp intelligence within its leadership ranks, including its feisty female members.
Persons within the leadership of this party have, time and again, proven their virility in standing up to adversaries who try to be contemptuous of Guyana’s sovereignty, as the late Dr. Cheddi Jagan did years ago against the might of the superpowers and the dictatorship to lead this country out of the bondage of servility, oppression and undemocratic synergies.

And subsequent to the restoration of democracy to this nation in 1992, Dr. Jagan spat in the eye of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and its Hoyte-driven draconian conditionalities that were literally and figuratively emptying the much-depleted rice pots of the Guyanese nation by telling the powerful IMF to put their conditions where the sun does not shine.
This bold and defiant move by Dr. Jagan helped to restore bargaining power to the formerly toothless poodles that the labour movement had been reduced to under the PNC regime.
This was done while simultaneously lifting the freeze on Public Servants’ wages.
This exemplary leadership quotient was again demonstrated when former President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo led his lone fight against the powerful European nations to guard the sovereignty and wrest conditions more beneficial, not only to Guyana, but to the entire CARICOM bloc of nations, with his demands for a re-constructed EPA.
There are also several instances where Dr. Jagdeo guarded the sanctity of Guyana’s territory, even while he formed bi-partisan and multi-national linkages and alliances with formerly adversarial neighbouring states; which falls among a multiplicity of history-making achievements for this country’s glory.
President Donald Ramotar’s unrelenting refusal to succumb to Opposition blackmail and put the nation at risk, even as they held, and continue to hold this country hostage to the FATF-imposed sanctions, among a plethora of other retrogressive stratagems targeting his administration, is another case in point of strong leadership.

A prime example of this is President Ramotar’s decision to Prorogue Parliament in the face of a threat of the immediate cessation of the 10th Parliament.

Conversely, the Opposition – jointly and severally, have historically sold this nation to foreign interlopers for their personal fortunes and enhanced self-aggrandisement; as they have recently done, and continue to do by sucking up to the foreign saboteurs of national peace and socio-economic development who covet the natural resources that Guyana has in abundance, especially our rainforests and potential for oil discovery.

The leaders of the PPP have always stood resolute in the face of threats to Guyana’s social and geo-political demographics, while Opposition elements have conversely, through the corridors of our history, sold Guyana and the rights of her citizens – beginning with Burnham, to foreign interlopers for the figurative ‘thirty pieces of silver.’
The collective Opposition leaders have historically demonstrated that they are unpatriotic and self-serving – time and again.
They continually revert to personal slander of those who are not afraid to deal with issues with courage, determination and forthright speech in defence of home, country and fellow citizens, without buckling; which the leaders in the Opposition always do, because of a seeming lack of testicular resilience. This makes them collapse in the face of aggression by anyone who violates Guyana’s social and geo-political spaces.

Hoyte’s attacks, using voodoo conspiracies (pun intended) against Mrs. Janet Jagan’s and Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo’s terms in the presidency, coupled with the Opposition’s most recent fusillade of invectives and disingenuous allegations against Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Bishop Juan Edghill, clearly illustrates the use of a poisonous tongue and pen as weapons of necessary choice against strong PPP/C Government leaders by Opposition leaders. Is it because they lack the necessary wherewithal to stand up like men and defend country, home and fellow citizens and buckle at crucial times?
The main reason why the Opposition collective cannot support and continually attempt to muzzle and destabilise the strong leaders within the Government construct, including technocrats who are merely fulfilling the mandate of their professional portfolios, is because their testicular fortitude disintegrates at threatening situations.
So they resort and revert to verbal abuse and character assassinations in efforts to bring PPP/C leaders to their knees in front of them, because they cannot stand up to the tasks that necessitate strength and staying power.
That is why Minister Priya Manickchand was lambasted and heckled during her gutsy demolition of a violator of her country because, while she recognised the danger of confronting and verbally demolishing a representative of a great superpower, she also had the cojones to tell him, in no uncertain terms, that her home, country and the integrity of Guyana’s spaces is not up for sale. The joint Opposition condemned her in face-saving attempts, because they all collapsed in the face of aggression.
Contrary to the PPP/C leaders who do not allow the territorial integrity and sovereignty of this country to be compromised, the Opposition leaders have historically proven that their loyalty is up for sale to the highest bidder.