When seeing how the Barcelona vs Bayern Munich European Champions League semi-final unfolded earlier this week, I couldn't help being reminded of how some are feeling a runaway election victory for the APNU-AFC coalition.
That soccer game was close for about 77 minutes and the undermanned Bayern team was actually giving the star-studded Barca team fits and could have taken the lead. Then with about 13 minutes remaining, it was too much Lionel Messi.
I couldn't help reflect on how the early campaigning in Guyan has been close with AFC going gang-busters dragging APNU along. Then the PPP big guns came out smoking. It has been a one-seat game in the past two weeks. then you start seeing signs of an exit strategy by the PPP. You hear rumors of document destruction and of plans for some to prepare for life overseas. You see the forlorn faces on the part of the PPP. After the bellicose campaigning of fear of PNC past that clarion call has been muted in recent days.
Meantime there is an air of inevitability over the APNU-AFC Coalition and the changes that are likely in the body politic of Guyana. You can feel it in your bones that Guyana is entering a new phase and a beak from the old. There is a unity of the Guyanese people that we haven't seen since the early post-colonial days ove a half century ago.
When you look back at the turning point of the change that comes to Guyana on Tuesday following the Monday elections, one narrative stands out. Moses Nagamootoo. The bold move by this quintessential politician to rent asunder the old politics of fear by joining forces with APNU is paying huge dividends. The PNC voters who would have given APNU 2 more seats in the last elections saw the possibility of getting rid of the PPP and what it stood for these past 23 years minus the short-lived Cheddi Jagan years in the early nineties. Their enthusiasm on the campaign trail bodes well for a larger turnout than in recent election cycles. Moreover, the mounting disaffection of Indians for the PPP's blatantly corrupt rule found a home in the message by Moses Nagamootoo.
There are many benchmarks of the scars left by the PPP - the cuss down of that iconic figure Yesu Persaud; the cuss down of Pandit Ramlall (a long serving stalwart of the PPP struggles); the rampant procurement contracts to friends; the fiber optic cable infrastructure projects to family; the drug intercepts; the Skeldon factory, the prohibitive costs of the Berbuice river bridge; the Marriot hotel; and on and on....This chapter thankfully comes to an end after Monday's elections.
