Written by OSSIE RODGERS
Wednesday, 23 January 2013 21:33
PLEASE allow me to make a comment on a piece published in the Stabroek News on January 20 entitled, "Does the PPP really have fear of the PNC?â€
I would want to answer that question with a yes or no answer but it is not that simple, since we need to look at the word "fear" in a holistic way.
I submit that Yes, the PPP is afraid of the bullish tactics of the PNC. For years the PNC has been using bullies to carry out its political agenda. During the PNC's time in government, many PPP leaders lived in fear of the PNC regime.
Some were routinely arrested and placed
in jail for absolutely no other reason than being a member or supporter of the PPP. Many were beaten up by thugs closely aligned to the PNC. The beatings did not stop when that party was booted out of office in 1992. As a matter of fact, the target was broadened to include business owners and other citizens mainly because of their ethnic background. All Guyanese have witnessed time and time again the bullish tactics that are used to keep Guyanese in fear of the PNC.
From the streets of Georgetown, the endless buildings destroyed by fire after the late leader Hugh Desmond Hoyte made his infamous statement of "Mo Fire, Slow Fire." In the streets of Linden where we saw yet another set of infrastructural damaged by thugs closely aligned to the PNC. Again, many business people were subjected to robberies and paying bribes to those same thugs who had created havoc in that small community for weeks.
Now their leaders are trying to use bullyism to once again put the PPP government on the back foot by introducing the issue of a television licence into the agreement after that agreement was signed. So, yes once again the PPP government is in fear of another flare up in Linden for the simple reason that the PPP want our entire population to live in peace and believe that none of our citizens should return to those dark, fearful days of PNC rule.
The PPP is afraid of the PNC because it knows that at anytime the leaders can make an irresponsible statement that can obstruct our progress and interrupt our peace, like the ultimatum given to the PPP government by the AFC, a protégé of the PNC as it relates to Agricola in 2012.
And now humbly submit that "No" the PPP is not afraid of the PNC in terms of strength, the PPP still remains the most popular party in this country. As a matter of fact, the PPP has won every single election in Guyana since independence. But the bullies took many of those victories away from the PPP by rigged elections, thus depriving Guyana of a democratically elected government. That changed in 1992, albeit with the intervention of international organisations such as the Carter Centre.
No, the PPP is not afraid to contest any election against the PNC, nor its subset the AFC, whether as one group or as two separate entities. History has shown that the PPP will always be connected to the grassroot and would continue to advance the welfare of people. Because of its developmental agenda, this party remains strong and connected to the pulse of the people.
So to sum it all up the PPP is not afraid of the PNC as a contesting party, but as an agent for disruption, who many times over seeks to destroy our country by inciting race, and using the criminal elements in our society to create confusion.
In closing, I want to say that the PPP remains strong and focused on nation-building, our country's developmental agenda has been somewhat interrupted with the resurgence of bullyism tactics in our National Assembly. However, our President continues to look for ways to compromise with the APNU/AFC partnership.
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