The PPP seems untenable to the electorate

Dear Editor,   For reasons best known to themselves, the ruling PPP cabal has not been able  to defend its disgraced track record of 22 years. Not only has Jagdeo and Rohee tried to spin their crassness into a political message about race, but they continue their denigrating diatribe against the Opposition leaders, David Granger and Moses Nagamootoo. What could the PPP hope to achieve by this? The widespread public condemnation has clearly harmed the PPP’s image, including its trump card, Prime Ministerial candidate, Elizabeth Harper who has not condemned the vulgar and abusive campaign. Ms. Harper’s only choice is to accept such behavior if she wants to remain as the PM candidate. It seems as though Jagdeo is the PPP Presidential candidate and not Mr. Ramotar who is completely out of the picture in this campaign. Does the PPP believe that he is not a good campaigner? Or is he forced to take a back seat to Jagdeo? You decide! As the campaign winds down, the party opinion polls are showing that many of their supporters have abandoned the PPP for the APNU-AFC Coalition. One of the reasons is that their supporters are fed up with the corruption, crime, vulgarity and the double standards that exist in the PPP which its leaders have refused to address. Two, their supporters are discouraged by their campaign strategy to demonize and malign the leaders of the coalition by not telling the truth. Three, many are angry at the “slap and strip” remarks made by the Minister of Health, Bheri Ramsaran against Rights Activists Sherlinga Nageer. Four, some of their supporters have realized that the PPP leadership is power drunk and has abandoned their grassroots supporters for their rich friends and that they only cater to themselves. Realizing that their defeat is inevitable, the PPP is subtly trying to change course in the final days of the campaign to avoid more losses and to reduce their diminishing public approval. But some of the PPP strategists are stubborn and will not retreat because they have been so blinded by the party’s group-think mentality wherein everybody has to think alike and become impervious to dissenting views. This group genuinely believes that the party is winning support. After months of campaigning, the PPP seems highly untenable to most of the electorate. The targeting of David Granger and Moses Nagamootoo through propaganda and distortions of the truth has caused the PPP not to focus and address the core issues affecting the poor and the working class. This strategy was ill-conceived from the start, since it was based on a false premise about race-bait and cuss-down politics and abusive and vulgar behavior. The PPP has not been averse to playing the race card, with Jagdeo and Rohee portraying the leaders of the Coalition as incompetent miss-fits and opportunists who are out for revenge against East Indians if they win the election. At any rate, the PPP leading campaigner, Bharrat Jagdeo has poisoned the political discourse and continues to do so by his vile conduct and specious spins on the facts. The APNU+AFC Coalition, in turn, is addressing bread and butter issues such as the doubling of old age pensions for seniors; a 10 percent across the board increase for workers and a 20 percent increase for the security forces; raising the tax threshold; a higher minimum wage; free university education; a 100 percent reduction in the tolls on the Berbice Bridge; a 2 percent reduction of VAT, a doubling of the price for rice, a 25 percent increase in bonus for sugar workers, a 25 percent reduction in the price for gasoline; and the creation of 25,000 new jobs for youths and those who want to work. These are feasible projects which the Coalition must embark on if it wins the election on May 11. However, the spirited public rejection of the PPP vileness by the leaders of the opposition including Khemraj Ramjattan and Joe Harmon demonstrates that the Coalition will not embrace such low gutter type behavior in this campaign. Save for the diehards in the PPP, no one has voiced support for the bigotry expressed by the fanatics in the regime. This is one of the many good outcomes from the present outrage in the campaign that the citizens of Guyana have demonstrated that they are more decent, deserve much better and are miles ahead of the Freedom House gangsters. They are proud of the APNU+AFC Coalition and they want change. Dr. Asquith Rose