When vision is not there, power is never guaranteed
Kaieteur News – It was a shock to every supporter of the PPP, PNC, AFC, and independent onlookers when the 2015 election results were pronounced. The APNU+AFC won by less than a percentage point, by a mere 4,500 votes, less than what is needed to clinch a parliamentary seat.
For the PPP aficionados, they probably thought the margin would have been wider because the PPP had become complacent and authoritarian. For the PNC and the AFC it was agonizing chagrin. They could not imagine the margin would have been a coat of varnish. For independent onlookers, it was confusing because they thought that the electorate wanted a change. You couldn’t speak of a change in the meaningful sense of the word – a victory by less than a percent was not a victory. The entire society was perplexed at the result when it was announced.
The result generated a formidable question in both the PNC and AFC but the question was different for each party. For the PNC, a deep bitterness against East Indians was immediately born. The PNC knew that Indians did not vote for them and hardly voted for the AFC. How then do they approach the race problematic?
For the AFC, they were mentally shattered at their showing. As early as June 2015, the AFC decided that its star had faded through its marriage with the PNC and that it would leave the PNC to decide the shape of governance and just comfort itself with the huge authority given to it by the Cummingsburg Accord.
From June 2015 then, the decision as to how to rule was exclusively a PNC one. Two pathways faced the PNC. Forgive Indians for the way they voted, court them, appease them and do things for them, thus winning their confidence. The second direction was to invoke the wrath of disappointment and miniaturize Indian society in Guyana.
The PNC chose the latter and the sugar industry was the first target. In the eyes of the founder of the PNC – Forbes Burnham – sugar was the PPP, the PPP was sugar. It was not far from the truth. Once there was a sugar industry in Guyana, the PPP would be a challenge to beat electorally. Burnham brought in the Sugar Levy of 1974 simply to penalize the industry and show the PPP that sugar money would be used to finance development projects in the entire country.
But David Granger was no Forbes Burnham. The founder of the PNC was not an incompetent strategist. He knew when and how to tame his excesses. Granger was and is essentially a political dunce. Sugar was indeed a problem, even under President Jagan. Sugar was being sold below cost of production. From Jagan to Ramotar, every PPP president was prepared to subsidize the industry.
Where Granger went wrong (and I think it was deliberate), was that the closure of the industry was not a decision based on economic science but out of political vendetta. This explains why there was no cushioning scheme put in place. When President Hoyte succumbed to IMF edicts, he stitched together a cushion named SIMAP.
The 28,000 persons affected by the estate closures needed a SIMAP-type of arrangement. But political spite prevented that to the point where the laid-off workers were denied their financially entitled compensation, which they had to go to court to secure. For the AFC, they could not have been bothered with what happened to the industry. They knew the AFC was dying and they just wanted to enjoy the perks of power. Only Charandass Persaud felt the hurt deeply and wanted to get back at the AFC.
So from 2015, the PNC had no intention of reaching out to Indians. But the PNC had no intention of reaching out to the mass of African people too. Public servants, teachers, state security services, street and municipal vendors, UG staff and unemployed urban youth and other areas where Africans were to be found were not earmarked for income elevation. In fact, Granger telegraphed his thoughts to African Guyanese that the state cannot provide employment for them.
The PNC knew by late 2015 that it was not in a mood to pursue election politics. It knew from the 2015 results that it could no longer win elections. It knew by its treatment of Berbice and the sugar industry that it does not need to placate ex-sugar workers. As 2015 wore on the PNC had made up its mind about permanent power. But fools who cannot read reality will never see the light. The PNC was not aware that Burnham and the world that nurtured him were both dead and gone forever.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)