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The true and ultimate objective of the NCV
DEAR EDITOR,
Since their defeat in the General and Regional Elections of 2015 the PPP/C have succeeded in forcing the resignations of the two previous Chairpersons of GECOM (Dr. S. Surujbally, who had overseen two election victories for the PPP/C prior to 2015, and retired Justice J. Patterson, who succeeded Dr. Surujbally). Recently, the Leader of the PPP/C declared its party’s “great faith in the fairness and impartiality” of the current Chairperson of GECOM and its suspicions of its Secretariat which it considers “sinister”.
It would appear that the PPP/C’s regard, or lack thereof, of particular GECOM officials is largely transactional.
Dr. Surujbally was held in high esteem, and remained in office, for about a decade until he was forced out following the PPP/C’s loss in the 2015 General and Regional Elections, which ushered the APNU+AFC coalition in office.
The current dissatisfaction with the Secretariat apparently stems from its inability to support the No Confidence Vote (NCV)-driven demands for elections by March 21, 2019 and, again, by September 18, 2019; the pursuit of house-to-house registration despite PPP/C opposition and non-cooperation; and the development of a work programme for elections inconsistent with the PPP/C’s preferred timeline.
More importantly, the policy of ‘scapegoating’ the GECOM Secretariat satisfies the PPP/C’s strategy of seeking to delegitimize the results of the upcoming elections in the likelihood of another PPP/C defeat. Persons within the orbit of the PPP/C, including former President D. Ramotar, have repeatedly and spuriously claimed knowledge of APNU+AFC-directed manipulation or “rigging” of the upcoming elections to deny the PPP/C.
Columnist Freddie Kissoon even sees “an improper general election where the West gets involved to bring about an APNU+AFC majority or APNU+AFC by itself rigs the poll”. Apparently, the “West” (US, UK and EU) has gotten involved to proclaim that “the Government is currently in breach of the Constitution” but not in the manner imagined by Kissoon.
The blatant hostility directed at the government following the long-awaited advice of the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission informing of GECOM’s readiness to “deliver credible elections by the end of February, 2020” has confirmed what, I have long suspected, is the true and ultimate objective of the NCV which is to reacquire power, lost through the ballot, through blackmail, intimidation, coercion and force.
The manner and messaging of the protests that were visited upon the Head of State and some ministers of government during last week were manifestly threatening and hostile and not overly concerned with fixing a date for early elections and will, most likely, continue and degenerate after a date for elections has been announced.
The publication of full-page advertisements in the national media characterising the government as illegal, in coordination with these activities, are intended to, in the most direct, threatening and offensive manner impugn, challenge, undermine and destroy the legitimacy and authority of the current, interim, government with a view to replacing it with something else.
During the past few months, several persons, all supporters of the “successful” NCV have advanced the idea of the PPP/C returning to government through creative mechanisms involving an indefinite postponement of elections in Guyana.
Sincerely
Oscar Dolphin
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