The elections are just a few days away. Three political parties seem to be the frontrunners. They are incumbent People’s Progressive Party, A Partnership For National Unity and We Invest In Nationhood—WIN.
The Alliance For Change which emerged as the third force back in 2006 and which supported A Partnership for National Unity in the National Assembly in 2011 is a spent force. This party coalesced with APNU in 2015 to defeat the People’s Progressive Party.
This time around it appears to be a shadow of its former glory. Many believe that it lost its sting when it failed to enter into a coalition with A Partnership For National Unity this time around.
In fact, it lost some of its major players to A Partnership For National Unity. One of them, Juretha Fernandes is the Prime Ministerial candidate. Those who left AFC included Sherod Duncan, and Ricky Ramsaroop, all of whom said that they believed in coalition politics. They were AFC stalwarts.
The incumbent threw almost everything at its disposal to thwart Azruddin Mohamed who heads WIN. The PPP and Mohamed had a falling out after the United States announced sanctions against Mohamed, his father and a woman who served as Permanent Secretary in the PPP government.
The PPP government then decided to use information provided by the US to prosecute Mohamed for tax evasion. Four years after it approved Azruddin’s imports it found fault with them.
It got some commercial banks to close the accounts of some people supporting WIN. The United States has since said that the banks have taken things too far. It accused them of over-reaching.
The PPP then used its supporters and at times the Guyana Police Force to frustrate Mohamed’s movement around the country on the campaign trail. On one occasion his delegation to the Corentyne was stopped at police roadblocks for a variety of reasons.
Local airlines declined to fly Mohamed into the hinterland where he has gained support. This much has by recognised by the PPP. Such is the worry about Mohamed that Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo uses his weekly press conferences to attack Mohamed.
But the lines are well and truly drawn. For all this, there are folks meeting behind the scenes to broker some alliance between the PPP and Mohamed. These brokers are using the Muslim connection. Obviously there is fear in the PPP ranks despite the bravado the PPP is displaying.
Ahead of the elections, the PPP and its advocates spoke about winning by a landslide. There were large crowds at rallies hosted by the PPP until people began to notice the same faces. The captive audience came from among those hired by the PPP government as 40-hour workers.
There were also people who turned up because they were being paid.
Things have got even better. Many people have been getting phone calls from Freedom House. There were queries when people were asked to register for the cash grant. The reason offered was that many people had identification cards with photographs that may not look like them.
Many had reservations and for good reason. That database is being used to track them. They are receiving phone calls enquiring whether they have received the cash grant. They are then invited to vote for the PPP.
For some reason there are people who are not getting the phone calls. Perhaps the PPP knows when it should not waste money on a phone call. One man said that they have discriminated against him. They are not calling him.
Some of the calls have not gone well. The callers have attracted choice language. Be that as it may one can only conclude that the PPP is using state resources. It demands a lot of money to transport that volume of people to every rally.
To call the hundreds of people is also an expensive proposition. The PPP is sparing no effort to win.
At the same time, it is undertaking projects although the norm is that no project should be undertaken in the period leading up to the elections. Three years after Parliament voted billions of dollars for the construction of a complex that would house four 12-storey buildings that project is now getting underway.
More than $8 billion dollars have been voted to date. The extent of work seen does not even account for one billion dollars. But the PPP needs a talking point. It is doing everything to show that its infrastructure projects are there for all to see.
Now there is talk about further works at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport. The airport should have been completed years ago. Suddenly, the government has decided that this will be a continuous programme.
Then there is the new Demerara Harbour Bridge. The government through Juan Edghill, announced that the bridge would have been completed at the end of this month. No one believed him because he has been giving deadlines, none of which has been attained.
On one occasion, jumbies delayed a road construction through Cemetery Road. Meanwhile the government is saying nothing about the gas to energy project. This too should have been completed.
There are promises of more money for old age pensioners. Why these promises are coming at this time is clear for all to see.
There will be many more phone calls out of Freedom House; there will be many more rallies; and of course countless promises in the days ahead
