Thursday, November 13, 2008

Is it still the PNC-Reform?

The People's National Congress has tried for many years to hoodwink this nation ever since the party birthed by LFS Burnham lost power in free and fair elections in 1992. We have seen a party lost in the wilderness, searching for its oasis.

After they lost the elections, hundreds of its followers, especially the afro section of the population, kept lurking and waiting for a breath of fresh air. Maybe they needed an Obama to keep their hopes and dreams alive.

Instead, under Hugh Desmond Hoyte, the party led hundreds on violent street demonstrations. It was one the nation's darkest days as the PNCR made Guyana ungovernable by not being able to prevent crazy mobs along the various march routes from rioting, burning, looting, raping and murdering innocent bystanders.

Just when the party had the upper hand and was about to back the ruling, People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) into the wall, President Cheddi Jagan played a gem of a stroke and invited Hoyte for talks.

The move gave the PPP/C enough time to breathe, while ckoking the momentum built up by weeks of protests. As Hoyte sat to hold talks with the PPP/C regime, he silently began to take the party along a passive and less violent road, which angered many hardened memebers including those in the leadership bracket.

As it kept loosing steam faster than a hot pot, Hoyte, who was fondly called the Silver Fox, began meeting with several opposition leaders. The end result was a rebranded party - with ethnic and expereince balanced with political scope that was capable of toppling the PPP/C.

Stanely Ming, Peter Ramsaroop and Eric Phillips joined Hoyte on a quest to regain power. That attempt failed. Howevere, under Hoyte, the party looked willing to engage others with different views.

So strong was the belief that they added "Reform" to their name. Throughout the country, the party was known as the PNCR or the People's National Congress Reform. Momentum raged but after Hoyte died, it was clear that under new leadership, the party would sideline anyone who preached reform.

No one expected Robert Corbin - a man who played a host of dirty tricks to maintain an edge in the YSM, the party's youth arm, to rise to the top of the party. He was never talked about or even considered by Hoyte to take over the party leadership or even to play second fiddle in Hoyte's government.

Corbin did take over and today we see the effects of a deflated party surrounded by dejected followers. Williams, Ramsaroop and Ming have all be sidelined for various reasons, including the inability of the party to practice true reform.

The party has maintained its "refrom" handle, but its a ploy to fool voters into thinking that the party has changed its bitter past. Corbin has lost all clue of leadership and they are renewed calls for his resignation before the 2011 elections.

He promised last year to build a new cadre of leaders to take over by the time teh next party congress comes around. We await, but will not make any bets.

12 comments:

  1. He was called Silver Fox? Wholly Mowley!

    Anyhow, did you write this yourself, or was it quoted from an opinion piece somewhere?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cheddi Jagan could not have played any gem of a stroke and invited Hoyte for talks. The protests took place after the Dec 1997 elections. Cheddi died in March of that year

    ReplyDelete
  3. Corbin is only as strong as the peopel around him

    ReplyDelete
  4. I could remember that there were ongoing talks between the PPP and PNC/R before jagan died. Jagan had actually gotten Hoyte to agree to have consulations before he died. Bharrat just benifited from Jagan's labour, teh same way the Government is now benifiting from all that donor money.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kamal,

    Thanks to the PNCR and Hoyte we are now borrowing like street beggars

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nice piece of work who ever is behind this blog. However, the writer missed Corbin's recent behaviours to sideline Debbie and the others.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Why is everyone turing on Corbin. The man is trying his best. It's the people that are fed up with the Jagdeass Government. Corbin was elected by the Congress to lead so everyone just get with the programme.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I think this writer is a disgruntled PNCR supporter and may have been with the Great-7 that challenged the leadership of the party and lost.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Long Live the PPPP/C we never had those problems. Nagamootoo left and he come back and he sitting down taking all the egg in his face, but he not leaving. Unlike those PNCR lappy dogs. Kill one another. Next Election we going for super majority and after that, we will take a super, super majority.

    ReplyDelete
  10. No, there was never any talks outside of formal constitutional consultations between Hoyte and Jagan. There were no major street protests during Cheddi's time. The problems arose after the elections of Dec 1997 when Mrs. Jagan was sown into office. As part of the Hermanston Agreement between the parties to resolve the impasse, it was agreed to an audit, the reduction of the term of the PPP to 3 years and dialogue. The Dialogue began under Janet Jagan and continued under Jagdeo.

    ReplyDelete
  11. to the #10 poster, you need a super,super,super super dick in yuh battyhole for you are nothing more than a Piss Piss Party balls-licker.

    ReplyDelete