The unconscionable strategy by the Opposition collective (AFC and APNU) to target communities according to their racial composition will backfire on the nation, as it has always done.

PNC/APNU’s Aubrey Norton said it best, that the aim is to remove the PPP/C Government at all costs, and the mechanism must be so geared. Thus he recommended against the stated intention – openly or subtly, of the PNC/APNU and the AFC to form a coalition to go into the next elections.
The strategy used, he posited, should be that the PNC/APNU campaign in its own constituency (meaning predominantly Afro-Guyanese communities); while AFC should concentrate its resources and energies on wooing traditional PPP support bases (meaning predominantly Indo-Guyanese communities).
The PNC/APNU has traditionally appealed to ‘Kith and Kin’; while since its formation the AFC has taken a two-pronged, double-faced, doublespeak approach to target both Black and Indian communities, which proved to be somewhat successful, with Nagamootoo biting deep into the heartland of the PPP with his fork-tongued strategies.
Conversely, the PPP has always appealed to all Guyanese to join the developmental train and eschew race politics to sustain its continuum of upward mobility – individually and nationally, through their support – with their votes, as well as prior and subsequent to general elections.
Pre-polling day of 2011, while en route to the Lieu-Ken-Pen Square at Wismar for a PPP/C election rally, what immediately impacted the consciousness was the proliferation of PPP/C banners and posters lining all along the highway, through the streets, and right up to the venue, all untouched–neither defaced nor torn. That this was so in Region 10 was striking to anyone who is au fait with things and events past in Guyana.
Noteworthy, also – more than either at the Albion or Kitty rallies, the rally in Linden reflected a truly Guyanese audience, with a mixture of thousands in near-equal parts of almost every ethnic and religious Guyanese composition.
This was a Region 10 audience expressing jubilation at a PPP/C rally, unprecedented after the decades-old political split that divided the nation along racial lines. This was history in the making that Sunday at Region 10; and the significance would not have been lost to all those who struggled alongside Dr. Jagan, who grieved even as he fought to restore unity once more in the Guyanese nation. As then PPP General-Secretary and Presidential Candidate Donald Ramotar said during an interview with this newspaper, this achievement is the real victory of the PPP/C – that Guyanese are once more coming together to work toward the common good in the spirit of 1953.
In the tranquil beauty of a balmy twilight in that rural community, with the river meandering its lazy way, successive speakers gave their reasons for joining the PPP/C, while the audience listened attentively – wildly cheering at times.
At that event M.C. Robeson Benn invited all Region 10 citizens to make that leap of faith, because the PPP/C administration needed the energy to continue development in the region, urging against their paying heed to those who charge the administration with accusations of racism and discrimination, because of the amplitude of evidence to the contrary.
He reminded Lindeners of the past, when Guylines proliferated and baton-wielding horse guards determined what basic commodities and foodstuff should be allowed to the ordinary citizen and encouraged them to help the PPP/C to win the national and regional elections so that the administration could continue to develop their region without impediments and obstruction.
Ms. Maylene Stephens said that the PPP/C, under a Ramotar presidency, will continue to transform Guyana and reminded them of all the assistance that they have been receiving from the PPP/C Government toward bettering their lives and their communities.
Moslem social activist, Jafar Mohamed prayed for the nation and said that those who lived through the era of PNC domination will appreciate the salvation in the nation that the PPP/C Government has provided. He posited that there are only two religions – righteousness and wickedness, where some worship God and some worship the Devil. He urged that Region 10 citizens accept salvation in whatever form it comes and disregard the irrelevancy of skin colour and other nebulous considerations.
Heaping accolades on PPP/C leadership, while blasting the Opposition as cheats only intent on power, who are all scrambling for leadership, Mohamed stressed that, under divine guidance, the PPP chose its Presidential candidate with 100% votes, and thus Ramotar is clearly God’s choice.
Maybe it was portentous, because while it rained heavily during the APNU rally, and on Sunday all along the Linden highway, and even earlier at the Lieu-Ken-Pen Square, the sun shone brilliantly before gracefully submerging itself into a balmy twilight before and during the PPP/C rally, which elicited remarks from supporters that this is God’s blessing on the PPP/C.
They also remarked on the thunderous blasts from the skies on the President’s Day of Appreciation, which preluded the event – a phenomenon they consider to be an ovation by divine forces for a job well done by outgoing President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo.
Phillip Bynoe fancifully praised the PPP/C for being a political party that is as constant as the northern star (which travellers and sailors use as a guide on difficult journeys); and provides positive leadership, which is the reason that he ascribes for the party growing successively stronger and more united countrywide.
Sadly, the PNC/APNU, recognising the threat to its dominance in the region, moved in with that Machiavellian combo’s appeals to ‘kith and kin’, with the regrettable consequence of all the inherent promise of a fruitful partnership between the people of that region and the Government to exploit to its fullest that region’s developmental potentials.
The Government had to forge ahead without the full support of the people, and with the joint Opposition creating roadblocks at every step of the way to impede community development and people empowerment.
Perhaps, this time around, not only Region Ten, but all the peoples in this nation would disregard ‘kith and kin’ calls and provide their support – which would be the wind beneath the wings of the only political configuration – the PPP/Civic combination, that can and has consistently kept faith with the people because it has, not just the wisdom and the will for wise and productive governance, but the welfare of the entire Guyanese nation at heart.