The opposition knows only one kind of politics – politics base on race and ethnicity. Only one political party has consistently work for unity in Guyana – the PPP. While the Walter Rodney-led WPA joined Cheddi Jagan’s PPP to work for national unity, the WPA has now descended into outright racist politics. The PNC has even stopped pretending it supports national unity. It is now making it clear to everyone that the small group of Indo-Guyanese in the PNC are tolerated only because they are nothing but “window-dressing” for the PNC. Indians in the PNC are not trusted and are considered ungrateful.
Daniel Seeram was appointed by the PNC as Chairman of the Region 4 RDC. Now we know that he was merely “window-dressing”. He was appointed because the PNC needed to show that they have Indo-Guyanese membership. Senior PNC members, like Winston Jordon, have told us this. Geeta Chandan-Edmonds was appointed MP in the Parliament only because she was Indo-Guyanese and the PNC needed to show that among its parliamentarians, they have Indo-Guyanese – she was merely “window-dressing” for the PNC.
Ubraj Narine was the PNC mayor of Georgetown. We know that he only got the job because he was “window-dressing” for the PNC. He is still a member of the PNC. But if all of this does not bother Ubraj, he is as shameless as those who are the perpetrators of a vile form of racist politics. It is time that Ganesh Mahipal realizes this. In the recent struggle for leadership, where Mahipal aligned with Roysdale Forde, Mahipal remains in the fold, Forde is an outcast. It is only because Mahipal is and has always been and will always be “window-dressing” in the PNC.
Many persons did not understand why the PNC treated Amna Ally the way they did when she died recently. She was a senior member of the party, with more than 50 years of dedicated service. But for the PNC, she was always “window-dressing”, merely a prop to demonstrate that the PNC is not made up only of Afro-Guyanese. They previously treated Winston Murray as an outsider, even though he provided sterling service, similar to Amna Ally, to the PNC. Clarissa Rhiel can tell the same story. Cammie Ramsaroop and others served throughout their long service to the PNC as nothing more than “window-dressing”.
Maybe now more people will understand why they treated Moses Nagamootoo like he was a puppet. He was given the grand title of Prime Minister, but was left as a toothless poodle, with no substantial responsibility. The PNC and David Granger had promised that the Prime Minister would be chairing cabinet; Moses Nagamootoo never chaired cabinet. It was a broken promise, just as they broke every other promise they made during the Elections 2015 campaign. But Nagamootoo was merely a prop, “window-dressing” for the PNC. The PNC leaders laughed at him as he “pomposited” around the country like a circus clown. Just because he was an Indo-Guyanese, he could never be in the PNC what Sam Hinds and Mark Philips were and are in the PPP.
When, just last week, Aubrey Norton stated that the PNC will work for national unity as priority number one, most Guyanese did not, could not, take him seriously, given the PNC’s decades-long history of racial politics, the decades-long practice of discrimination and polarization in our country.
This week the Guyanese people had more reasons to doubt that the PNC could ever be trusted to work for national unity. Norton this past week stated that there is no way that the PNC would denounce David Hinds for his racist views. Norton, and by extension, the PNC, therefore, has given unconditional endorsement of Hind’s racist views. No senior member of the PNC has dared to contradict Norton.
Political leaders and activists have no carte blanche to make racists statements. David Hinds is guilty of many racist statements. Not so long ago, David Hinds described those Afro-Guyanese who previously supported the PNC, but have decided to endorse the PPP for Elections 2025, as “lick bottoms, house slaves,” and “sellouts”. When criticized, he doubled down on those statements. Many Guyanese remembered when this man earlier had castigated Afro-Guyanese for procuring food from Indo-Guyanese vendors in Mon Repos.
Recently, a number of PNC members decided to reject the PNC and endorse President Irfaan Ali and the PPP for Elections 2025. These members have come under relentless attack and ridicule. Several PNC/WPA leaders have singled out the Indo-Guyanese former PNC members for the some of the vilest attacks. The PNC made clear that these Indo-Guyanese who held certain positions only got their positions because they were cosmetic props, “window-dressing”, to demonstrate the PNC had Indo-Guyanese ranks among their leadership.
David Hinds, Winston Jordon and others have been in the forefront in condemning their former Indo-Guyanese colleagues for joining with the PPP. But in their attacks on their former PNC colleagues, they admitted another truth – Indo-Guyanese in the PNC and among the opposition ranks are just cosmetic presence.
It is an insult to all Indo-Guyanese that they can only be cosmetic props and “window-dressing” in the PNC. While Indo-Guyanese are “window-dressings” and nothing more in the PNC, those Afro-Guyanese that dare join the PPP are deemed by the PNC as “house-slaves”, “slave-catchers”, “lick-bottoms”, “sellouts” and “traitors”.
to join the PPP as “lick-bottoms”, “house-slaves”, “slave-catchers”, and “sellouts”.
Guyanese must contemplate two things. First, could anyone in the PPP survive in the PPP if they say anything like David Hinds have said? Would the PPP defend them? Would the PPP permit them to continue in the PPP? At the very least, any senior or junior PPP activist would have had to apologize and would have been severely rebuked. It would be the end of their career in the PPP.
Second, could anyone visualize any Indo-Guyanese playing roles such as Roger Luncheon in the PPP? Could anyone visualize a role for any Indo-Guyanese in the PNC as Clement Rohee, Robeson Benn, the senior Brindley Benn, Ashton Chase, EMG Wilson, etc.?
It is shameless that as we go into Elections 2025, Aubrey Norton has firmly tied the PNC-led APNU/WPA coalition to the position that Indo-Guyanese will always be second-class in the PNC, and, their only worth in the PNC are as “window-dressing” and cosmetic props. It is reprehensible that the Aubrey Norton-led PNC sees Afro-Guyanese who chose to exercise their democratic right
In contrast, President Irfaan Ali has pursued unity and has placed the unity platform – One Guyana – firmly on the Elections 2025 choice for people. For President Ali and the PPP this is a referendum issue: the people are asked to choose between unity or division. The proponents for the unity proposition are President Irfaan Ali and the PPP. The proponents of the division and polarization proposition are Aubrey Norton and the PNC and those one-man, one-woman political parties that constitute a clueless coalition.
In Elections 2025, the people of Guyana have a golden opportunity to put an end to racial politics in Guyana. In 1953, Cheddi Jagan lit a flame of hope that our country can work together in unity. Bharat Jagdeo relit the flame as he tried desperately to bring back the 1953 spirit between 1999 and 2010. President Ali has not only energized the fight for unity, but he has restored the hope that the 1953 movement can come alive again. Our people want unity and Elections 2025 will go a long way in consolidating the unity movement.