… Stand up and be counted?
At the time of writing this piece, the PNC has not yet stated its support for President Ali’s firm refusal of Maduro’s insane decree to once again threaten the capture of Essequibo and its sea resources. As one letter writer in this newspaper noted, this is not the time for the PNC to be sulking. For nearly 60 years, Venezuela (since 1962) has held its false story of the 1899 Arbitration Award which defined our common border as “invalid”, over our necks like the sword of Damocles.
During that time, the PPP never waved in support of the PNC on the border debate, even though they had been put in Government in a British-US electoral coup against the PPP. That’s the essence of patriotism. In 1965, the PPP warned the PNC Government from joining with Britain to sign the Geneva Treaty. The PPP rightly regarded him as a Trojan Horse who would be used by the Venezuelans to keep us distracted and off balance. But the PPP supported the PNC Govt when in 1966 the Venezuelans invaded half of Ankoko Island – which they still occupy.
And so with the Port of Spain Protocol in 1970 – where there would be a 12 year “moratorium” on the debate. During that time while the PPP disagreed with Burnham cozying up to the then Venezuelans led by Perez and negotiating with them to support the Mazaruni Hydro in return for a “land settlement”, they again provided “critical support” to the PNC. They warned that the Venezuelans were playing possum. And when Perez attacked and removed the rug under Burnham after his visit to Georgetown, and thwarted World Bank support for the hydro project, the PPP did not cheat. They supported the call for “not a blade of grass” to be retained.
In general, it must be acknowledged that the PNC, after Perez treated Burnham, made a firm decision on the Venezuelan border controversy. It was the PPP who proposed that the matter should be resolved through judicial intervention and the APNU / AFC Ministry that followed it. Although they could not resist using the issue to hide the bonus of the $ 18 million US Exxon oil contract!
So the PNC’s silence at the moment is worrying. It seems that Harmon – who sees no inconvenience in denying the PPP legitimacy to the government after the elections while accepting his legitimacy as Leader of the Opposition – could be muddy. But this will be another litmus test on the PNC’s eligibility to lead Guyana.
They failed the “democratic elections test” terribly when they could not resist their historic compulsion to rig elections.
Will they stand up and be counted?
… Hire more lobbyists?
As your Eyewitness mentioned yesterday, the PNC (Harmon and Ramjattan) announced that they will seek to persuade the incoming Biden Democratic Administration to reverse the US stance on the March 2 elections here. It is clear that they have convinced themselves that Biden will ignore Mingo’s obvious rigging for the PNC just because he is a Democrat and Trump is a Republican !! Could this be because a Democratic Administration under Lyndon Johnson allowed Burnham to rig back in 1968, this current PNC lot thinks rigging is a “thing” of the Democratic Party! ??
What a bunch of wankers !! But they should know that the rigging was not just condemned by Republicans but by many Democrats. Notably, there is NY Democratic Congressman Gregory Meeks, who was elected to Chair the House’s powerful Foreign Affairs Committee. Perhaps the PNC honchos forgot that Meeks had personally visited Guyana and called for an immediate declaration of the elections when Harmon dragged his feet with “anomalies”?
They’ll have to write a new background for their lobbyists!
… Implode?
We know the fissure lines in the PNC – those that mark the Granger / Harmon lot; motley crew Volda Lawrence and Black Nationalists foaming at the mouth!
Will the Venezuelan crisis force the issue?