Wednesday, September 16, 2009

LETTER BOX: The claim that AFC is Guyana’s only multi-racial party is a myth!

Rohanie Persaud: The claim that the Alliance for Change (AFC) is Guyana’s only multi-ethnic party is a myth perpetuated by some, or a truism ignored by all.

All the political parties including the PPP, PNC, AFC and WPA have had in their leadership people of all racial groupings and can make the claim to being multi-racial.

It is a truth, with the exception of ROAR; all political parties have won the majority of their votes from a particular racial group. ROAR is the only party that has been overtly Indian and has made no bones appealing to that specific voter group.

The AFC is no more multi-racial than the PPP and PNC because Khemraj Ramjattan and Raphael Trotman are in the leadership. Using this point of view the PNC with Desmond Hoyte, Winston Murray and Stanley Ming is multi-racial.

The PPP with Bharrat Jagdeo and Sam Hinds is multi-racial. The WPA with Clive Thomas and Rupert Roopnarine is multiracial.

The multi-racial myth being peddled by Freddie Kissoon and AFC supporters, that the AFC is the only multi-racial party, do not even fool the casual observers.

If the AFC is the only multi-racial party it should have gotten more Indians, at least a third or half, then a solid claim of being the only multi-racial party would have credibility.

In fact Indian votes to the AFC were so miniscule it could not give the party a parliamentary seat and the seat Ramjattan sits in was given to the AFC by African votes.

Ramajattan did not even get a dozen votes from his village. Before the AFC it was said that the WPA was the only multi-racial party. There is no voting evidence to support this either.

The years the WPA won seats in parliament were either from the votes in African areas or the Amerindian regions.

The PNC and PPP have also pulled votes from these areas. GAP has made appeals to the Amerindian regions and under GAP/ROAR coalition won a parliamentary seat.

An African-Guyanese has been appointed to that seat in parliament. Ravi Dev did say were he to have made the choice that would not have been his choice.

I enjoy reading Freddie Kissoon, but sometimes I wish he would resist the temptation to repeat tales in the hope that repeating it often enough makes it the truth. It is not so Freddie and just as how you keep calling Vishnu Bisram out on his lies someone needs to call you out on multi-racial lie.

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