Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jun 21, 2014 Letters
DEAR EDITOR,
I recently read on the internet, a letter written by Dr. Asquith Rose and Harish S. Singh, which was published on May 5 in the Stabroek News under the caption “PPP Government cannot win a majority in any new elections”.
In that letter the authors stated ‘‘we can say with much certainty that the PPP cannot win a majority in any new elections. For one reason, the AFC has changed the political dynamics/landscape in Guyana. For another, the East Indian population on the Corentyne which is the PPP stronghold has been drastically reduced by 22% due largely to migration. ‘’
My opinion is that this shows lack of knowledge on the political background of this country. Everyone knows that the AFC (Alliance For Change) does not have the support base to win an outright majority at any elections for two main reasons: (1) elections in Guyana is more about race rather than party ideology and (2) East Indians, who represent 47 percent of the population, vote en masse for the PPP, regardless if the country is being poorly run.
This Government cannot be easily defeated, as ethnic voting remains entrenched. Guyana is a nation that is politically and racially divided. The is primarily due to the split of the PPP (People’s Progressive Party) along racial lines, due to differences in political views between the two main party leaders, Dr. Cheddi Jagan and Mr. Forbes Burnham.
The split resulted in Jagan continuing to lead the PPP and Burnham forming the People’s National Congress (PNC). Racial considerations have since dominated elections, as the PPP became an East Indian-based party and the PNC derived its following from the African community.
Some politicians use racism to gain political millage which destroys the country. We as Guyanese cannot represent our nation’s motto ‘One People, One Nation, One Destiny ‘ because we don’t live together as one.
Everything in Guyana is about race and this is why the PPP Government which is being supported by largest ethnic group of people in our society – regardless of the high cost of living, high unemployment rate, high crime rate, poor health care system, poor education, bad governance and mismanagement of our taxpayer money among other things – can never lose any new elections in Guyana.
There is no doubt that race was effectively used to construct and sustain the PPP/C Government’s dictatorship for over twenty-one after the 1992 general elections. Had Dr. Asquith Rose and Harish S. Singh known different, they would never have said that the PPP cannot win a majority in any new elections.
We must remember when the AFC was formed and contested elections in 2006 under its slogan, “Vote for Change Not Race”, everyone was expecting a turning point in terms of ethnic voting. In the end, however, the AFC got six seats, with the majority of their votes coming from Afro Guyanese communities.
The birth of the AFC confirmed the existence of ethnic voting in our society, but also showed that Afro Guyanese are mostly about change and voted beyond racial grounds while others refused to do so, resulting in another PPP victory. As such, I do not see that the ruling party will ever be defeated.
The end of the PPP/C Government will depend on whenever the majority of my Indo-Guyanese brothers and sisters say enough is enough and put our country first.
Rayvonne P. Bourne
Where is the BETTER MANAGEMENT/RENEGOTIATION OF THE OIL CONTRACTS you promised Jagdeo?
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