AFC has about 113,000 reasons to hide from 2023 LGE

Dear Editor,

Guyanese should ignore the call from the Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC), Khemraj Ramjattan, to boycott the elections.

First, people have a reason to go to the polls. Our country is developing rapidly and we play an important role in democracy and in holding leaders accountable; unlike when his APNU-AFC Coalition government was in office and voter turnout dropped to below 50%. Stabroek News on 17th of November

2018 reported that: “The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) yesterday confirmed that a mere 36.3% or 208,534 of the 573,923 registered electors turned up to cast their ballots when the 2018 Local Government Elections (LGE) were held across the country on Monday. The figure represents a more than 10% decline from the 47.1% recorded for the 2016 LGE. At the time of those elections, 239,070 of the 507,584 persons eligible to vote cast their ballots. Based on these figures, this year’s polls saw over 30,000 fewer voters.” That peo- ple did not participate as they should says a lot about the governance of the time. The fact that the PPPC won significantly at the 2018 LGE also says that the APNU-AFC Coalition government could not mobilise their own people to go out and vote. In contrast, by the time that the 2020 General and Regional Elections came around, an opportunity to change the government, voter turnout, was 72.58 %.

Secondly, Mr. Ramjattan claims that his Political Party (if we can still call his outfit that) has valid reasons for not contesting the elections and the main one is the Voters’ List. But the truth is that: one, the APNU did not go the 2018 LGE with the AFC and the AFC is likely to be left on its own again; two, the AFC was beat by 113,000 votes by the PPPC; and three, the AFC is unlikely to make any kind of inroads at the 2023 LGE.

On the issue of the Voters’ List, as per Guyana’s constitution and a ruling of the

High Court, Guyanese who were registered to vote, but have since migrated cannot be removed from the Voters’ List. The report from Elections Observer Missions (EOMs) in 2020 recognized that this contributed to the total number on the Voters’ List. The final report from the Election Observer Mission sent by the Carter Center, on page 10, said: “The number of registered voters seems disproportionate to Guyana’s estimated population, in part because Guyana allows Guyanese living overseas to remain on the voters list.” The European Union Election Observer Mission in their final report, on page 16, said: "...Guyana’s high emigration rate may be the most significant factor accounting for an ‘inflated’ list.” The line about a bloated Voters’ List is worn out already.

Enough is enough.

Dear Editor,

Iam disappointed, shocked and appalled at the level of Opposition politics taking place in our country at present and in the lead-up to local government polls, to be held on June 12, 2023.

Firstly, the type of language and political rhetoric used at public meetings and rallies of the combined Opposition is increasingly inciting division and segregation among our people. It is publicly racist and demeaning.

I feel opposition politicians are not demonstrating the kind of responsible rhetoric that the public has come to expect from a leader who has an interest in becoming either the President or Minister in the future.

I condemn all the parties and groups that support either partially or wholly this level of politics or political rhetoric. I draw attention to the silence of the Guyana Human Rights Association, civil society, non-governmental groups, and independent commentors.

Every Guyanese who facilitates the political campaign being waged by the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R), A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), and the Working Peoples Alliance party (WPA) is guilty of supporting more divisiveness and a disunited Guyana. They are supporting a Guyana in which the Opposition statements can go unchecked, unfiltered, and down a path of being unhinged.

Secondly, this is sad and unfortunate that leaders of combined Opposition do not research or know the subject of the topics they are speaking about at the meetings and rallies, leading to a vast and troubling amount of misinformation, disinformation, misleading statements and political lies being levelled against the Government of the day and individual members of the Government.

They slander and libel the members of the Peoples Progressive Party daily, without exception, and then abuse the privilege under the Parliament or politics, and the freedom of speech to shield themselves. I think the freedom of speech does not empower these Opposition politicians to tell blatant lies or different versions of the truth because they suit them politically.

Thirdly, I do not, nor will I ever, support the racial incitement of violence against the different ethnic groups seemingly by the combined Opposition. I stand against political violence because there is simply no justification for it in Guyana in the year 2023.

I reject the WPA, David Hinds, Tacuma Ogunseye and Rickford Burke for seeking to allegedly stir up conflict and the pot of ethnic hostility and racism in our society in order to win votes. These are dangerous men, but I know Guyanese will not follow, act, or listen to the things they are saying on their public social media platforms.

I support the military, joint services and the Guyana Police Force, which will act professionally at all times, regardless of the temptation to be political from either side of the political divide.

I support the law and legality, and hereby believe that the authorities should not turn a blind eye to political heresy, political and racial incitement of PNC/R, APNU, WPA and any other social media personality in the leadup to the local government polls.

This common, puerile and reprehensible type of politics must end in modern Guyana.

Finally, it is either you have the facts, or shut up! The Opposition is sounding very stupid whenever they make these allegations of discrimination and racism but cannot point to some specific cases. They must be challenged, because it is Guyana’s image regionally and internationally that they slander, not the PPP alone, as they seemingly intend.

The Leader of the Opposition should use some of the money or Opposition resources they have to commission a factual and analytical analysis of discrimination, racism, and all other allegations he makes against the PPP Government. Again, this is baby politics and politics 100 being practised in our society. Where are the issues, plans and policies that Opposition politicians will present to make local government work efficiently and effectively for the people?

Now is not the time for small-minded politicians, divisiveness, or racial politics, but the time for building Guyana, so the reality of ‘One Guyana’ can continue to be fashioned from an idea into a functioning reality.

Yours truly, Michael Younge