“Monkey doh see its own tail,” is an apt description of the APNU/AFC following the March 2 general elections in Guyana and the counting of the ballots. Blacks of Guyana are vocal against every form of perceived discrimination against them. They are always quick to brand others racists but fail to see their own racist and discriminatory practices against others.
Black people have suffered no doubt but they are not the only people. Throughout history stronger groups have always exploited weaker groups and that is the law of nature. It becomes difficult to accept when Blacks justify their wrongs by hiding behind slavery and colonialism. This victimhood culture has grown into a cancer in their social outlook and is the major hurdle to their progress which they fail to comprehend.
For example, I saw a letter written chastising the foreign observers in Guyana recently. The writer questioned the right of former colonial powers to send election observers to supervise elections in Guyana. The letter writer saw that as taking Guyana back into the era of colonialism and slavery. The writer went on to emphasize that Guyana is an independent sovereign republic and should not be dictated to by outsiders.
Were those observers not invited to supervise the elections? Given the history of election rigging in Guyana, all political parties of Guyana agreed to have the presence of foreign observers -Carter Center, OAS, Commonwealth, European Union among others. In fact, it was not the first time that elections observers were brought into the country. It is the history of electoral fraud in Guyana that demands such machinery be put in place to ensure the credibility of the declared results.
While all observers agreed that the casting of votes was done smoothly, the problem arises with the counting of votes in Region 4. The observers demanded transparency in the process by which the votes are counted and verified. Despite strong objections from the opposition parties and international observers to the lack of transparency, Chair of GECOM was absent and the Returning Officer demanded that he had his way and ignored the legal method prescribed by law..
While Brigadier Granger and APNU/AFC are celebrating a victory in the short term, in the medium and long term all Guyanese would suffer. The international diplomatic community has already pledged to unleash sanctions against the Granger regime. Already, financiers of APNU-AFC are withdrawing their support from Granger who is now an international pariah.
The oil windfall that all Guyanese are patiently waiting for with baited breath may not reach the masses as the country plunges into social and political chaos. Is Guyana the future paradise or the next Venezuela in the making? A legitimate government is necessary to ensure that the revenue from the oil wealth reaches the masses. The present political crisis does not point to that end.
The bitter truth is that APNU/AFC is only concerned about raw power, not about social and economic development. Blacks Power is not a force for development but an instrument for handouts from the State.
The invitation to have CARICOM supervise the counting of ballots is being stymied leaving the Chair of CARICOM, Mia Motley, to suspect that there are forces in play in Guyana who don’t want a recount.
Between 1964 and 1992 when the PNC rode roughshod over the people, trampling on their rights and freedoms, CARICOM leaders were silent. Few Caribbean journalists and men of letters condemned the electoral fraud in Guyana. To have CARICOM preside over the counting of ballots after the international observers have left in frustration, is ugly and shameful.
Blacks in the Caribbean don’t have an issue with Granger or Rowley. Their target for hate is Donald Trump who remains a figure of hate for them. Guyana will now remain an apt example of Trump’s shithole countries. But who say that APNU supporters are unhappy? They simply have to sit back and wait on the oil windfall!
