Skip to main content

FM
Former Member

The AFC and WPA are victims of the scorpion’s nature

Mar 17, 2018 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom, https://www.kaieteurnewsonline...he-scorpions-nature/

A scorpion asks a frog to carry it across a river. The frog hesitates, afraid of being stung, but the scorpion argues that if it did so, they would both drown. Considering this, the frog agrees. But midway across the river the scorpion does indeed sting the frog, dooming them both. When the frog asked the scorpion why, the scorpion replies that it was in its nature to do so.

There is an implosion taking place within the government. And it is all because of the nature of the political parties which comprise the ruling coalition. The victims of that implosion are the Working People’s Alliance and the Alliance for Change. The rascal is the PNCR, the main partner in APNU.

The PNCR is behaving like the scorpion. It has stung the ‘trusting’ WPA and the Alliance for Change. Both of these parties should have gotten out of the coalition a long time ago. They have stuck around only to be reduced to doormats of the PNCR.

The WPA’s troubles began with the unceremonious removal of Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine as the Minister of Education. It was said that he was removed in order to give him a lighter workload. His removal, however, occurred just as the Ministry of Education was about to begin to benefit from a US$14M inflow under the Education Sector Improvement Project funded by the World Bank.

The removal of Roopnaraine caused consternation within the WPA. The party complained that its members were not consulted. It also protested that APNU was not meeting, and therefore the WPA had no input into government policies. There was a meeting to tidy things over, and promises were made, but whether those promises were kept is likely to be very much like the story of the scorpion and the frog. One side trusts the other too much.

The WPA has suffered another casualty. Its co-leader Dr. David Hinds has been removed as a columnist from the Guyana Chronicle. The WPA is asking the scorpion why it was stung.

The AFC, the other main junior coalition partner, jumped wildly into bed with APNU in order to wrest political control of the government from the PPPC. The AFC could have kept its promise never to enter into a coalition with either the PPPC or the PNCR.

It could have stayed outside of government and used its ‘balance of power’ to keep both APNU and the PPPC in check, like it did in the 2011 parliament. The AFC, however, decided otherwise. The party opted to jump into bed with APNU.

The AFC has since been turned into a rubber stamp. It clearly misread the power of Cabinet under an Executive Presidency. The AFC settled for the right to chair Cabinet, something which is not allowed by the Constitution. Cabinet has no executive power. Cabinet is merely advisory.

The AFC underestimated the central role which is assigned to the Presidency. Instead of fighting for special majorities within Cabinet before certain policies and decisions are approved, it has naïvely become part of an Executive in which the President has the final and ultimate say.

The AFC has also found itself undermined from the first day it assumed office. The responsibility for Citizenship was stripped from the Ministry of

Public Security, which was handed to the AFC.
The Prime Minister is now cocooned within the Ministry of the Presidency. He is responsible for information, but the Ministry of the Presidency has its own over-bloated press unit, and some other Ministries have their own individual public relations officers.

The Ministry of Natural Resources, headed by the present AFC leader, was stripped of the environment portfolio, just as the Ministry was in a position to benefit from windfall revenues as a result of the Paris climate change agreement.

Then the same Ministry was stripped of the petroleum portfolio having negotiated what the government says is a decent deal with ExxonMobil. The responsibility for the Guyana Sugar Corporation has been pulled from under the Ministry of Agriculture.

The AFC was shortchanged in the allocation of seats and chairmanships and mayors following the 2016 local government elections. In Georgetown, however, it was given the post of Deputy Mayor twice. It now seems that this was twice too many, since APNU on Thursday last grabbed both the positions of Mayor and Deputy Mayor.

Two AFC councilors are about to face disciplinary sanctions from the APNU-dominated Council.

If the AFC and WPA by now have not recognized that their marriage with APNU is over, then they are like the ‘trusting’ frog who naïvely hitched a ride on the back of the scorpion, only to be stung. The only difference is that the PNCR will survive while the AFC will go under.

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Prashad has a soft spot in his heart for the WPA and its leaders like Walter Rodney , Eusi Kwayana,  Ohene Koama and Moses Bagwan but he has no sympathy for the AFC. May the AFC be chased out of every East Indian community in Guyana.

Prashad

Quote:

"The AFC, the other main junior coalition partner, jumped wildly into bed with APNU in order to wrest political control of the government from the PPPC. The AFC could have kept its promise never to enter into a coalition with either the PPPC or the PNCR.

It could have stayed outside of government and used its ‘balance of power’ to keep both APNU and the PPPC in check, like it did in the 2011 parliament. The AFC, however, decided otherwise. The party opted to jump into bed with APNU."

And became Guyana's biggest Antimen.

FM
Last edited by Former Member

Pepping Tom always gives us a good read and, at most times, the truth. While I am not praying for AFC and WPA to fail, but failure does come naturally. When APNU is the big player, your failure is written in stone. Interesting, indeed. Let see how this plays out. 

FM
Last edited by Former Member

Didn’t I say that all along?  Ramjattan was satisfied with this position and my opinion that was a powerful position.  I had hoped they’d back Amelia for something in return.  

But The big new guy said he ain’t deh fuh #3, and the rest is history 

Baseman

Add Reply

×
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×