By Abena Rockcliffe
Politics is a business. Campaigns and governments can be seen through the lens of investment and returns. In business, consumers tend to get the best out of the market when there is competition. When there is no competition, innovation ceases to be a priority. Owners tend to relax in auto pilot and enjoy the unfettered pay day.
Guyana is a special case. Consumers suffer when there is no competition as in the cases of GPL and GWI and still suffer when there is competition as in the case of internet providers.
In the business of politics, things have been going well for the PPP to the extent that this author fears the end of the era where chess-like techniques are employed.
Guyanese have not witnessed masterful political maneuvering since the unfolding of the grand scheme to unseat David Granger. From the successful passage of a no-confidence motion against a government that enjoyed parliamentary majority, to the mobilization of “guardians of democracy”/ alienation of the APNU, everything was well planned and executed.
Since then, there has been no need for the real architects to step into gear. Irfaan Ali’s first term was decent enough that most observers could have predicted that PPP would have retained power. It did; and with a wider majority than it enjoyed in decades. But much has happened since the 2025 elections and a lot of what happened has been mishandled; including especially the MV Barima tragedy. Enough regard was not accorded to the tragedy. Some believe that because of the mishandling of the MV Barima tragedy alone, if elections are held tomorrow, PPP/C would lose at least one seat.
On the other hand, WIN’s response was applauded by many, even those not particularly fond of the party’s leader, Azruddin Mohamed. Just as it appeared as if WIN was flying high, then came the lie about the police deactivating the Facebook page.
Instead of downgrading from chess to checkers, the board has been discarded entirely. With chess, strategy is important and the strategist has to think long term. A grandmaster would avoid claiming that the Facebook page was deleted, knowing the truth will be revealed when the page is back up and running. A good player would think of all the repercussions of a move, including counter moves, before playing. Will this move open the eyes of whistleblowers to the possibility of the content of our communication being accessible to vindictive figures in authority? Will people think I am a liar and lose trust? Will legit acts of victimization be suspected to be my own doing? Are the short-term outrage and sympathy to be gained by saying the page was deleted by police worth it?
WIN surprised many with its success at the 2025 elections. But unless a good strategy is employed, the party will lose momentum. The party needs to become bigger than Azruddin Mohamed. As it stands, the strength of that party relies on two pillars, Mohamed’s philanthropy and PPP’s victimization. Many people support the party because Mohamed appeared to be standing firm against a big bully, the PPP. If the PPP government decides tomorrow to stop weaponizing state machinery against the Mohameds, WIN may be crippled. It is safe to say the Mohameds understand just how well the victim card has been working for them, hence the decision to make it seem the page was deleted. Then there was the false claim that the boat was damaged while in custody of the police. Many assumed that the PPP was doing a good enough job victimizing the Mohameds, the need not misrepresent the facts. But so is the nature of snakes and ladder, just throw the die and hope for the best.
While the primary characters, PPP and WIN take on their roles of antagonist and protagonist, respectively, the APNU seem to be adjusting nicely to the role of a secondary character. One would have assumed that the massive rejection it suffered at the 2025 election would have served as the wakeup call needed for APNU to take stock and return with a bang. Some may say APNU finds itself in a much more troubling position than WIN, though some moves are rookie, at least WIN is in the big league and remains the biggest threat to the PPP. The APNU seems to be drifting further away. Unfortunately, APNU’s big brother, the PNCR cannot seem to get a handle on its leadership crisis, a reality that leaves the party stagnant. Apparently political theory is much easier for some than practice.
As a journalist, this author misses the days when the opposition was gearing to overthrow the PPP, that 2010 to 2015 period. This author misses the days when Bharrat Jagdeo was in reclamation mode, when the next move could not be predicted, when Nigel Hughes warned that if Jagdeo threatens to pelt, the brick is in his hand; when Jagdeo bothered to debate budgets. For now, we must contend with APNU being in the wilderness, WIN playing the whistleblowing victim and PPP weaponizing the state against its political opponents and regular citizens who dare to call out the slightest wrong.
