I wish to remind readers of Marcus Garvey’s popular sentiment, “A people without the knowledge of their history, origin and culture are like trees without roots.”
I herein also indebt myself to Annie Duke by referring to her observation that: “We are in a perpetual state of learning, and that can make any prior fact obsolete. Given that even scientific facts can have an expiration date, we would be well-advised to take a good hard look at our beliefs, which are formed and updated in a much more haphazard way than those in science.”
The past, as we know it, informs the present and we should use the perceived knowledge to act in ways that mitigate the errors that took place.
However, we cannot afford to stay locked in mental prisons of the past. Instead, we have to focus on what needs to be done now. It is important that we place our energies and might into putting the necessary measures in place so that Guyana may have elections that stand up to scrutiny. At the very least, we must agree that a new National Register of Registrants is absolutely necessary.
The political violence in the 1960s, rigged elections, the murder and mayhem in the 2000s, racism being normalized in political parties and as covert and overt political policy are part of our history. However, these events should not be topic de jure.
Constantly reviving and reliving those periods and social maladies, distract from what needs to be done now to decisively win the General Elections in Guyana and provide the premium quality leadership needed.
Post 2014, Guyana is a country with vital resources needed globally. We are the fastest growing economy in the world and one of the most impoverished in South America and the Caribbean Region.
Infrastructural development in all sectors of our economy is much needed, mitigating poverty must always be prioritized, forward selling oil to deploy funds now for development is merited; and not utilizing the bonanza of funds pouring into our Natural Resources Fund is heresy against disadvantaged Guyanese .
The latest group demographics of Guyana show:
Indians ~39%
Africans ~29%
Mixed Race ~20%
Indigenous Guyanese ~10
Chinese and Europeans ~2%
The elections will be won by the party that mobilizes their supporters and ensures that the supporters actually vote, along with attracting additional votes from non-traditional voters and supporters.
Based on the last two General Elections, the vote margin differences for the major parties were relatively small.
We have the 2025 General Elections bearing down on us. The opposition party/ies are in the dead zone period of the election cycle, as the Governing Administration is in the power zone period with approximately three years before the next General Elections.
Mainstream campaigning will take centre stage in 2024, within a year of the elections. Policies, promises, decisions, successes and failures will be microscopically examined; and action will have to be actioned by the contesting parties to win over the issues oriented Guyanese voters, a group of likely less than 15,000.
Now is the time to be forming alliances, securing funds, highlighting social political-socio-economic issues, building groups and networks in various communities across Guyana.
This dead zone period is certainly not the time to live in and adumbrate on the divisive past.
