Dear Editor
Not a day goes by without accusation of rigged elections made in mainstream media from the government and their supporters. The government is operating as though the election is not over, and they remain in campaign mode. Instead of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) going into a mode of governing, in building relations, in mending Guyana, they are pursuing the opposition as though more bent on destroying relations than building political cooperation.
This action is seeking to solidify a narrative when that led to the invasion of the Guyana Elections Commission on March 5. This is the worse Guyana has seen the party and President Irfaan Ali has to take responsibility for the present social and political environment, whether it is being said that he is being pushed from behind by another force. At the end of the day, he has to take responsibility for this period and history will likewise judge him.
It is instructive as the PPP/C continues to cast accusations about who is responsible for rigged elections they are working assiduously not to have the High Court hear the election petitions. They are trying to get these petitions thrown out, lending to the observation that this is typical PPP/C, content to accuse but not interested in proving. There are too many examples in society about the haste to jump and claim victimhood which is never matched by evidence. It is reminiscent of public relations, more getting out to screaming and shouting. In a democratic society this is counterproductive. Society cannot be built on lies.
A case in point is the death of Dr. Walter Rodney where accusation was made about who was responsible for his death. Yet successive PPP/C governments refused to have Mr. Gregory Smith, the main accused, returned to Guyana from French Guyana to give evidence. All that was required was for the government to give French Guiana reassurance that if Smith were found guilty, he would not face a death penalty. The government refused to do this, and Smith went to the grave with the facts whilst many were allowed to conjure stories for a gullible public. Not even the hunger strike staged by Shaka Rodney, Dr. Walter Rodney’s son, could have made the government budge but they were content to pit his name and keep Guyanese divided.
The brutal gunning down of Linden ‘Blakcie’ London by the military, when his last words were ‘Mac I got a lot to talk.’ Instead of being able to tell his story he was gunned down in a hail of bullets, after surrendering and coming out unarmed. Then there was the jailbreak of the five on Mash Day 2002, all of whom were killed under questionable circumstances, including one hiding out a few doors away from the notorious minister of home affairs. Even as the government was content to lay blame at the feet of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) it has never sought to have the police bring suspects in alive. Suspects were gunned down seemingly in extra judicial murder, all having the hallmark of execution and a narco turf wars. This hurts more than helps the need to secure justice for victims and the accused which do not augur well in any society that claims value for the rule of law.
With all the glaring allegations of electoral malpractices, primarily from the PPP/C strongholds, there seems to be an unwillingness by the party to acknowledge or take responsibility for. The government is well advised to stop accusing and start proving in a credible system of justice not one manipulated and to serve propaganda purposes. Leader of the Opposition Joseph Harmon does not have to make any admittance to the trampling of democracy when what is clearly evident in the 2020 Election is that there were gross irregularities that benefitted the government. Suffice to say the election is over and recommendations for electoral reform should be seriously looked at even as the court hears the petitions.
Regards
Lincoln Lewis
