MANCHURIAN CANDIDATES AND POLITRICKS

An old film starring Frank Sinatra, The Manchurian Candidate (1962), is of late striking chords in the context of Guyanese 'politricks.'

Picture Guyana as the set of the film, but instead of being brainwashed, the sleeper agents are wittingly about power and gain. From the time the PPP/C lost the election in 2015, current VP Bharrat Jagdeo, arguably the most astute politician currently in Guyana has been outmanuevering APNU on every level.

If this was the movie plot, the PNCR is in a death spiral, aided and abetted by external forces, which have successfully infiltrated it along with dogged old guard bent on holding on to power with their blinders firmly affixed.

Disastrous decision after decision including appointees to key leadership roles continues to be the order of the day. The role of a general secretary of any political party is a key one. He or she is tasked with being responsible for the daily political work and organising, as well as the management and administration of the party. Ergo, one cannot be shortsighted in selecting an appropriate candidate. Fundamentally, it is difficult for people to change who they are. While I am not dismissing out of hand the possibility of persuading one to change, ideological beliefs indoctrinated from childhood are very difficult to break. Particularly in the context of the history of the clear ethnic divide in the local political arena. The recently annointed and appointed general secretary was not a candidate who had come up the party's ranks so to speak. In keeping with the film's theme, hypothetically that is an ideal post from which, one could insidiously wreak internal havoc.

From PPP youth arm involvement, to the Alliance For Change (AFC) now to the PNCR. My apologies in advance for being suspicious by nature. However, anyone whose loyalty evidently often changes, is nothing but a political grasshopper and needs to earn his or her stripes over time.

Has the PNCR learned nothing from the Charandass affair? He too was supposedly

AFC. Little did they know that was a facade. Then again, even when the top brass was informed at that time that something was amiss, as apparently is its practice, it failed to take heed.

Further, there is the ongoing rift between the Granger/Harmon faction and the Norton faction. The blind could see that despite the will of the party members who voted overwhelmingly for Norton to lead the PNCR, the latter appears content to stymie Norton. In addition, they appear bent on engaging in wilful blindness with respect to their reluctance to surrender the reigns. This merely serves to hasten the further fracturing of the party; thus, rendering it a useless and ineffective opposition. Questions were previously raised as to why the opposition APNU was merely reactive, as opposed to going on the offensive. In some quarters there were whispers that the foregoing situation was as a result of some sort of an 'agreement' to keep things quiet. Previously both President Irfaan Ali and VP Jagdeo had tacitly expressed their support for Harmon to remain as opposition leader. What was their vested interest in him remaining in that post? It really should be of no moment to them other than on a superficial level who holds that office.

More over, the lack of astute leadership continues to plague Granger and Harmon. For two learned men the adage to quit while you are ahead did not resonate with them. Thus, owing to the decided lack of leadership on display, people of substance will continue to eschew the party. How can the opposition hope to attract new members with the requisite skills and drive to strengthen the party and move it forward? Additionally, if the opposition's poor, uninformed and decidedly lackluster responses in the current budget debates are anything to go by, it does not augur well for its future. Perhaps coincidentally, but when Harmon last Friday gave his presentation via Zoom, there were no fellow opposition parliamentarians present in the chamber.

Then there's that pesky social media where many live out loud. It is so revealing. For there one learns of strange bedfellows, strategic alliances, and handlers and advisors of figures in key roles. Also, it is where one witnesses the progressive switching of sides. Some of it is such obvious apple polishing that it is laughable. For instance, when a PNCR member openly posts that the budget is a transformative one while admitting to having not studied it, the inescapable conclusion to be arrived at is the member perhaps hopes that such utterances will suffice as penance for legal woes and all. After all, this is the very government that instituted the charges. Thus, what better way to demonstrate one's fealty to the new masters than to openly show support.

However, time is the great revealer and one by one the candidates will show themselves in the theatre of Guyana, truth being stranger than fiction and all that.