Dear Editor,
Only days to go now. Most electors have decided how they will vote. Strictly based on common sense, it is a no-brainer really…a “slam dunk” as one friend put it recently – but as my late former father-in-law would say, in his countryman Jamaican accent, common sense nah common! Yes, the transformative development under way is plain to see: road networks, schools, hospitals, cash grants and vouchers for health maintenance, thousands of scholarships, local content legislation and the incumbent PPP can point to a track record of achieving its manifesto promises. All of that, however, may not win the vote of a significant number of electors.
Besides the hard-core who will loyally support the Party their family has always supported, there are persons who would ignore common sense – not a common commodity – and gamble with fundamental change. The reason is easy to work out – especially amongst the young who are not locked into the 2-Party system that prevails in most Western democracies. They are simply keen to see change.
To be fair, part of this cohort of first time and other under 40s voters, see as a WIN (pun intended) any new Party that can attract a significant buzz right now. Their barometer is social media. Their hope, in reality, is One Guyana – without race or any form of 2020s Party Paramountcy by any Party being more important than the real issues of the day. The other part of this cohort are the smattering of entitled persons who feel that because of their support of Party, they should have benefitted more over the past 4 years. Notably, the common thread running through those so keen for change over continuity, is an apparently scant regard to inexperience and US Treasury Department sanctions. Common sense nah common!
It is good anyway to observe how violence-free it has been in the run up to September 1. May it remain that way through Polling Day. It is so exciting to approach a Guyana General and Regional Elections, with a Party in the mix that people are actually talking about as a Third Party. Very exciting indeed!