Social Activist, Ruel Johnson, along with 10 other Guyanese, recently formed a political party called the Citizenship Initiative (CI). That party is expected to contest the 2020 General and Regional Elections.
Johnson recently revealed that CI will not coalesce with any of the political majors, being the PPP or the APNU+AFC faction, simply to use their political currency to win votes.
During his interview with Guyana Standard, Johnson said that the current political currency is not something he wants his party to be aligned with, or worse yet, be corrupted by.
Johnson said, “…When you define political currency in the current political climate, it is not something I want. Political currency is increasingly being devalued because it is based on tribalism, the abdication of responsibility, marginalization of youth, and effective the marginalization of the poor. I don’t want that.”
The Social Activist added, “I want a new currency in which people say they expect certain things from political leadership and it is delivered; they expect transparency and accountability and they get it. This current political currency gets you nothing and it is time Guyanese change this.”
Furthermore, the Executive Member of CI said he believes the emergence of not just his party, but many others such as the A New and United Guyana (ANUG) led by former House Speaker, Ralph Ramkarran, is also in response to the need to have a new political currency.
Johnson opined that those who are against the emergence of parties, saying that they are just opportunists, are quite frankly, ideologically or economically attached to the status quo.
“The emergence of new parties has always been around and the current administration is a creature of that. The coalition has parties that are less than 20 years old…So I do believe that this is a good move for Guyana,” the CI Executive Member stated.
