WPA urges Guyanese to punish the PPP on May 11 for the unpardonable violation of our national pact

On May 11 Guyanese go to the polls to vote for a new government. WPA views this election as the most important one since we attained independence in 1966 for two major reasons. First, it offers Guyanese an opportunity to put an end to the most autocratic and divisive government since self-government. Second, it offers an opportunity to install the first real broad-based and plural government since 1953 in the form of the APNU-AFC coalition. WPA sees this as a giant step in the direction of a truly representative Government of National Unity.

From its birth in 1974, WPA has been a steadfast advocate of a national political solution that is premised on the joint interests, aspirations and representation of all of its peoples. For 40 years we have worked with numerous political and social forces in Guyana to achieve this goal. We are satisfied that the Coalition has brought us closest to the realization of this goal. The Coalition puts before the electorate a wide choice. In voting for the APNU-AFC electors are in effect voting for all six parties in the coalition or any single one of their choice. It allows citizens to vote their diverse interests under a common umbrella. This can only enhance democratic participation and outcome in a plural society such as ours.

WPA worked alongside the PPP in the 1970s and 1980s to democratize our politics and governance institutions and culture. But during the last 23 years the gains of those struggles have been erased by the PPP in an orgy of corruption, nepotism and dominance that would take decades to undo. The lesson for Guyana going forward is that we should not just vote governments into office but we must be prepared to hold those governments to acceptable standards and norms befitting a democratic society.

As the tide seems to be turning against the PPP, it has employed the most vicious form of fear-mongering imaginable. The appeal to the ethnic insecurities and fears of one section of the electorate has surpassed anything we have seen before. Such politics are not fit for a modern environment. How can you claim love for your country while poisoning its heart and soul with the worst form of racial venom? WPA calls on Guyanese to go to the polls on May 11 and use your votes to severely punish the PPP for this unpardonable violation of our national pact.

Finally, WPA is of the view that the PPP’s constant reference to the threat of electoral malpractice by the Coalition may well be a mask for its own plans for skullduggery. In addition, it is also a not so veiled signal that it would not accept the results should it lose the election. WPA views these with much concern. It would be tragic if the PPP, in its desperation, uses this moment to push the country further to the edge.