THE dream of high political status has been a continuous thread running through the history of this country and sadly the political cemetery of Guyana since 1964 has occupied vast territory that continues to expand.

For many that dream never saw the light of day. At the 1964 election, apart from the big three – PPP, PNC and United Force – four other parties contested. They were the Justice Party of Bal Ram Singh Rai, a former PPP minister; Guyana United Muslim Party; Peace, Equality and Prosperity Party and the National Labour Front.

Every election since 1964 has seen a proliferation of small political parties headed by people who dreamt of having a large name in politics. Political parties expanded exponentially at the first free and fair elections in 1992 after decades of rigged elections since 1968.

Many prominent citizens entered the electoral ring since 1992 in search of that political dream. None has ever made it except a handful that ended up with one seat and faded with subsequent elections.

The 2020 elections saw the biggest entry into the political arena outside of the big two PPP and PNC. Each election from 1992 saw some very prominent names hoping to make it big on the political stage.

Pegasus owner, Robert Badal; former PPP big wig, Ralph Ramkarran and well-known literary personality, Ruel Johnson made a pitch for political real estate in 2020. The result was only one made it to parliament, Lenox Shuman of the Amerindian Party.

Some political dreamers subsumed themselves under the umbrella of the PNC, the largest party in the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU). Some big names fell under that tent, including Keith Scott, brother-in-law of Walter Rodney and Drs. Clive Thomas and Rupert Roopnaraine. You look at the political graveyard at the moment and it is becoming longer than the Essequibo. Two names are making the rounds – Ganesh Mahipaul of the PNC and Dr. Mark DeFrance of ANUG.

Can they end up where dozens of large political figures have been consigned to since 1964? The most conspicuous name in the PNC in 2025 after the diminution of Ubraj Narine and Roysdale Forde and the exodus of Amanza Walton-Desir was Mahipaul. There were hardly any developing circumstances that could have intervened to stop him from being named as the PNC’s PM candidate.

In an unexpected move, Juretha Fernandes of the AFC defected to the PNC and was instantly assigned the PM slot. It made no sense politically since she came over just weeks before the election and ironically was less known in Amerindian circles than Mahipaul himself. To obfuscate the embarrassment to Mahipaul, all PNC campaign billboard featured the triumvirate – Norton, Fernandes, and Mahipaul – but was there really a triumvirate.

It turned out there wasn’t, and the billboard thing was a colossal deception. After the elections, Terrence Campbell, a complete newcomer to Guyana’s politics was made parliamentary head of the APNU. Where does Mahipaul go from here? He would tell you that he isn’t going anywhere but parliament can be a rowdy place sometimes (well, most of the time) and Ganesh will have to endure some overbearing taunts on his demotion.

Finally, the medical doctor, Mark DeFrance, current head of ANUG, if ANUG still exists. Since DeFrance is a medical doctor, he will have to do a post-mortem on ANUG. DeFrance dissolved ANUG under WIN for the 2025 elections knowing full well that he had a rich guide to learn from. There is PNC-Reform, PPP-Civic and APNU+AFC. DeFrance does not understand simple politics. It should have been WIN+ANUG.

He was the second big name on the WIN bandwagon because of the national status of ANUG. But Azruddin Mohamed had other thoughts. Can one imagine a political novice like Mohamed outsmarted the more experienced DeFrance. He was not given a parliamentary seat.
Mohamed was laughing at DeFrance behind his back during the campaign. DeFrance and Mohamed signed a legal document to give ANUG two parliamentary seats if WIN got six seats and three seats if WIN got more than six seats.

But that legal agreement may not hold up in court because there is no entity named WIN+ANUG and ANUG dissolved itself under WIN in papers submitted to GECOM. DeFrance told me this week that the lady that WIN chose from ANUG to sit in parliament will address parliament as an ANUG parliamentarian.

DeFrance is ignorant of the Representation of The People’s Act. She cannot sit in parliament as an ANUG representative. She comes under WIN and was selected by WIN. If she only says she represents ANUG in parliament, the Speaker will warn her, and WIN may remove her. DeFrance thinks he can still salvage ANUG. He is dreaming. He knows AFC died when it merged with the APNU and ANUG died when it stupidly removed its identity and became part of WIN.

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.