Prologue
Mark Cuban talks about walking on the other side of the road when seeing a black youth with a hoodie in the darkness of night. You then hear the retort that a white guy in a suit can be more harmful as well as a white bald-headed dude with a tattoo. We are all too familiar with racial distrust because of unfamiliarity, and the Korean/Black stand-off in LA and New York in the 80s is a case in point. Then of course Indians with Turbans felt it just after 9/11.
The point is that when we are unfamiliar with something we tend to have an instinctual distrust until we become familiar with it. Likewise we overcome skepticism with change once we experience it.
The problem with the PNC brand
Indians say that the PNC will revert to Burnham days when they hear the acronym APNU, and this is the case with unfamiliarity. Not that Indians are unfamiliar with the PNC, but unfamiliar with CHANGE within the PNC. The brand is toxic – both to Indians as well as Blacks. Winning Blacks is not the problem. It is winning over Indians. Indians will continue to distrust the APNU as long as they are unfamiliar with the new PNC and they are skeptical about the change in the PNC.
The PNC’s leadership issue
You either believe that Robert Corbin sold out the PNC’s change to Jagdeo’s charm offensive or he buckled under the relentless pressure of the FF/Phantom reality. You must know that a force for change Winston Murray was cut short early. Enter Granger.
David Granger is a decent man. He was a low-level officer during the 1973 elections. I trained as a QC Cadet at Timehri in the summer of 1973 and my recollection may be bad, but I believe he was stationed there. I also know that the low-level officer level had a disconnect with the upper Brass in Burnham’s clutches. He is a QC Old Boy and has a strong intellectual tradition. He is not a thug, to use the parlance of some on this GNI Board.
The PPP Free Pass
I believe that with a strong Opposition the PPP will be a better party – visionary leadership, professionalism and a flourish for technology, all of which a re lacking. We accept mediocrity because of a distrust of an opposition brand that refuses to have a do-over.
Hoyte had a wonderful opportunity. His trust of Indian professionals and Indian economic ethic was already recognized. All he had to do was to apologize to the country as a whole – to Blacks for impoverishing them, and to Indians for the denial of certain freedoms and to the country as a whole for bankrupting the economy. Hee demurred. Corbin was bought over. Granger needs the cahones to compliment his nice character and professionalism.
Here’s the rub. The PNC is not monolithic. There are factional rivalries. Hoyte may have been thrown out of the PNC, even after banishing Hammy Green. Oh, how little did Hoyte capitalize on the economic liberalism, freedom from the Burnham shackles and the lethal assault on the kick-down-0the-door banditry.
Granger can call on liberals in the party – like Carl Greenidge, himself a respected Economist – to rebrand the PNC. Maybe internal PNC politics dooms APNU.
Meanwhile Jagdeo grasped the PPP by the scruff of the neck while Moses was on sabbatical – forced and unforced – and remade the PPP. He can make the PPP an autocratic, oligopolistic party and stifle economic advancement, and he gets a free pass. The PNC guarantees that.
Granger's visit to Richmond Hil
Yesterday I couldn’t make time to see Granger at Ritchie Rich or the private dinner later – had other pressing commitments. We have come a long way where any Guyanese can go to any political party function abroad and not be vilified. Of course there are those antiquarian folks on this Board who would demonize anyone who would think of doing that – but they are a vanishing majority. From the feedback I’ve gotten so far, the point was made to Granger that his ROI (Return on Investment) for reaching out to the Indian polity will not pay dividends until the PNC apologizes to the nation – to Blacks, Indians, Indigenous and other races. The PPP needs this investment Granger. It will make them a better party. Heck, we may even have a governing party and Presidency other than the reckless meandering one we are forced to subscribe to.