Granger saved the PNC/R from sanctions

Nov 02, 2021 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – The delegates to the forthcoming Congress of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) will not only get to elect the party’s leaders. They will also get the leaders they deserve.
There have been no upheavals within the party protesting the despicable conduct of the PNC/R in attempting to benefit from rigged elections and dragging the country through five months of torture and inertia. The only internal turmoil has been over the decision of Granger to accept the lawful declaration of the Chairperson of GECOM and the subsequent attempts to discredit him and call for his removal.
In essence, since the swearing-in of Irfaan Ali as President, the PNC/R has been embroiled in a power struggle rather than a struggle to regain the support which abandoned the Coalition and cost the party to lose the elections.
The issue of why the APNU+AFC lost the elections is playing second fiddle to the power struggle within the party. And it is that same struggle within the party since the last Congress which led to divisions within the party and which hurt the party during the elections.
The party leadership needs to remember that just prior to the 1992 elections there was a power struggle also. While the challenge to Hoyte’s leadership was withdrawn at the last hour, the damage had already been done. Divisions had already been developed within the party, and one of the faction camps tried to abort the elections.
The PNC/R needs to do a thorough analysis of why it lost the 2020 elections. It has to step away from the discredited and unsubstantiated narrative of fraudulent elections. It has to confront the fact that, despite its significant support, it was rejected by the majority of the population. It needs to address what it could have done better and what it should not have done at all while in government.
Among the key deficiencies was leadership of the elections campaign. The APNU+AFC never learnt from the mistakes of its management of its 2016 local government elections campaign and inexplicably the PNC/R went it alone in 2018.
It took a hammering from the PPP in both elections. But that still did not force the party to rethink its campaign organisation or the divisions which were emerging within the Coalition.
The PNC/R also soured relations with the APNU+AFC in the run-up to the 2020 elections. This was a case of political suicide because the PNC/R’s core base cannot deliver an election victory. And because the AFC was peeved, it underperformed.
The AFC went into the elections feeling slighted and it gave a half-hearted performance and allowed the PPP/C to win the elections. But there was also evidence that the PNC/R was not properly assessing the turnout at its rallies. It could not do this because it had adopted the PPP/C style of bussing in large numbers of supporters to its mass rallies. Its street corner meetings were also poorly attended.
The APNU+AFC had commissioned a poll just after the no-confidence motion and it gave the Coalition a slight lead, sufficient, it was felt, to have allowed for a narrow victory had the elections been held within the three months period.
There was a decision, however, not to resign and call elections but to challenge the no-confidence motion, including on the most absurd of grounds that 34 was the lowest majority of 65.
The PNC/R paid a bitter price for that legal misadventure. It is believed that it lost the support of persons who would have been inclined to support it had the government done what was required under the Constitution.
The APNU+AFC lost power also because of the many mistakes which occurred within the government. It proved no better than the PPP/C and was subject to serious criticisms over its conduct in office.
But perhaps the tipping point was the scandalous signing of the Production Sharing Agreement with the oil companies. This was the worst deal ever signed. If and when the PNC/R debates what went wrong in the government, it should raise questions as to who authorised the signing of this deal and why.
To add insult to injury there was a denial that a signing bonus was paid. And it was later said that the amount paid was believed to be a gift to the government. So if it was a gift to the government somebody needs to explain why it was not paid into the Consolidated Fund as required by law.
The PNC/R organisation is extremely weak at the base. It is not as some feel a question of losing contact at the grassroots; it is an issue of the quality of its local leadership, and so far only one candidate, Dr. Richard Van West Charles has recognised this deficiency.
The quality of some of the groups and Regional leadership would have attracted some disfavour. Too many fogies are still occupying positions of influence at the group level and they lack the sort of energy needed to revitalise grassroots support.
David Granger has had to shoulder a barrage of criticism since the 2020 elections. He is being crucified for accepting the lawful declaration made by the Guyana Elections Commission. He did the right thing, belatedly, and saved the party from serious international sanctions and regional ostracism.
Unfortunately, the forthcoming Congress will not labour on the party’s mistakes between 2015 and 2020. Its main focus will be the power struggle.
Instead of sweeping changes to the leadership, there will be the recycling of the old leaders into new positions. And that will keep the PNC/ R out of office way beyond 2030.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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