Trucking on a Sunday afternoon
October 5, 2011 | By KNews | Filed Under Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
There isn’t anything illegal or improper if a political party hires private transport to truck its supporters from all over the country to attend a political rally. This is what the PPP did last Sunday at Albion. Gerhard Ramsaroop released video material that showed the trucking process in full swing. The vehicles of BK International were quite visible. Graphically visible, too, were the lorries of Guysuco.
It would be dishonest for anyone to deny that state resources aren’t being used in the PPP campaign. The Day of Appreciation was a barefaced manifestation of this. It is not going to stop for the election campaign. The Elections Commission is not going to condemn it claiming that such things are outside of its remit.
The ABC diplomatic missions will not be forthcoming on the issue. It is a sad reflection on Guyana’s chronic political tragedy. Even sadder is the fact that powerful countries like the US, UK and Canada that bankroll a poor Third World state like Guyana cannot demand that the Government adhere to international standards of election morality.
If the trucking continues, it becomes a nightmare for the political analyst. It has already. How do you gage the support for the ruling party when at their rallies they bus in thousands of supporters and transport soca performers from Trinidad? In Berbice, which cannot be compared to Georgetown in terms of entertainment outlets, people will go to any show much less when they are absolutely free.
There is no reason to stay home even if you hate the PPP. You want to go with your friends, lime with other people, and have a good time.
It happened at the Day of Appreciation. It happened at all those Hits and Jams escapades. It happened at those state-sponsored T/20 matches where Chris Gayle performed. It happened at Albion last Sunday. This is a country where over seventy percent of the population is under 35.
How can you stop them from going to a concert that is part of the PPP rallies? Human psychology is not as complex as we make it out to be. What those revelers have done is that they extrapolate from the event the dimensions that are important to them. They want to see soca performers. They want to drink and dance. Those are the things they see and want. Ramotar and Jagdeo do not come onto their screen.
In the end, a picture of deception is born because you cannot ascertain the level of support for your party. This is not only a formidable task for the analyst but it is also a problem for the PPP. How do they know if their following has dropped or has become non-existent?
If you truck thousands of people into a rally to listen to chutney singers, then you have no clue as to who are your supporters. The AFC and APNU do not have that burden. They do not provide their attendees with entertainment. I went to the AFC Buxton sojourn last week and the numbers were not overwhelming but the attendees were not sparse either. As an analyst, I would conclude that the AFC’s Buxton receptivity should be encouraging for the opposition.
On the other hand, the PPP went to Ruimveldt without the jamming and from the news I read in the Stabroek News, the turnout was appallingly miserable. Demerara Waves reported a poor attendance for the PPP in Station Street, Kitty. Again there was no jamming at that meeting. Assuming that the reports from Demerara Waves and Stabroek News are correct, then, the PPP has some valuable information from which it can learn.
First, in the heart of South Georgetown, it has little or no support. Secondly, in Kitty, things aren’t looking up. But once the PPP continues to land truck loads of people by the thousands, it will not be able to evaluate the true nature of its support. At the time of writing, the PPP would be putting on a Kitty rally by the market square and again there is going to be entertainment.
Again, young people are going to flock to the site to lime and soak in the jamming.
Of course, the combined opposition must be happy at this level of inanity by the PPP. Since the PPP cannot assess its true numbers, it plays into the hands of the opposition. But the PPP is in a no-win situation. The PPP is too ashamed to hold a bare rally in a heavy Indian enclave and face the ignominy of tiny numbers. So it will go on fooling itself in the election campaign.
October 5, 2011 | By KNews | Filed Under Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
There isn’t anything illegal or improper if a political party hires private transport to truck its supporters from all over the country to attend a political rally. This is what the PPP did last Sunday at Albion. Gerhard Ramsaroop released video material that showed the trucking process in full swing. The vehicles of BK International were quite visible. Graphically visible, too, were the lorries of Guysuco.
It would be dishonest for anyone to deny that state resources aren’t being used in the PPP campaign. The Day of Appreciation was a barefaced manifestation of this. It is not going to stop for the election campaign. The Elections Commission is not going to condemn it claiming that such things are outside of its remit.
The ABC diplomatic missions will not be forthcoming on the issue. It is a sad reflection on Guyana’s chronic political tragedy. Even sadder is the fact that powerful countries like the US, UK and Canada that bankroll a poor Third World state like Guyana cannot demand that the Government adhere to international standards of election morality.
If the trucking continues, it becomes a nightmare for the political analyst. It has already. How do you gage the support for the ruling party when at their rallies they bus in thousands of supporters and transport soca performers from Trinidad? In Berbice, which cannot be compared to Georgetown in terms of entertainment outlets, people will go to any show much less when they are absolutely free.
There is no reason to stay home even if you hate the PPP. You want to go with your friends, lime with other people, and have a good time.
It happened at the Day of Appreciation. It happened at all those Hits and Jams escapades. It happened at those state-sponsored T/20 matches where Chris Gayle performed. It happened at Albion last Sunday. This is a country where over seventy percent of the population is under 35.
How can you stop them from going to a concert that is part of the PPP rallies? Human psychology is not as complex as we make it out to be. What those revelers have done is that they extrapolate from the event the dimensions that are important to them. They want to see soca performers. They want to drink and dance. Those are the things they see and want. Ramotar and Jagdeo do not come onto their screen.
In the end, a picture of deception is born because you cannot ascertain the level of support for your party. This is not only a formidable task for the analyst but it is also a problem for the PPP. How do they know if their following has dropped or has become non-existent?
If you truck thousands of people into a rally to listen to chutney singers, then you have no clue as to who are your supporters. The AFC and APNU do not have that burden. They do not provide their attendees with entertainment. I went to the AFC Buxton sojourn last week and the numbers were not overwhelming but the attendees were not sparse either. As an analyst, I would conclude that the AFC’s Buxton receptivity should be encouraging for the opposition.
On the other hand, the PPP went to Ruimveldt without the jamming and from the news I read in the Stabroek News, the turnout was appallingly miserable. Demerara Waves reported a poor attendance for the PPP in Station Street, Kitty. Again there was no jamming at that meeting. Assuming that the reports from Demerara Waves and Stabroek News are correct, then, the PPP has some valuable information from which it can learn.
First, in the heart of South Georgetown, it has little or no support. Secondly, in Kitty, things aren’t looking up. But once the PPP continues to land truck loads of people by the thousands, it will not be able to evaluate the true nature of its support. At the time of writing, the PPP would be putting on a Kitty rally by the market square and again there is going to be entertainment.
Again, young people are going to flock to the site to lime and soak in the jamming.
Of course, the combined opposition must be happy at this level of inanity by the PPP. Since the PPP cannot assess its true numbers, it plays into the hands of the opposition. But the PPP is in a no-win situation. The PPP is too ashamed to hold a bare rally in a heavy Indian enclave and face the ignominy of tiny numbers. So it will go on fooling itself in the election campaign.
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