| While a presidential candidate is yet to be identified for the People’s National Congress Reform, the party leader stresses that the party is looking at a broad platform to contest the 2011 elections and has not ruled out a coalition approach.Party Leader Robert Corbin,Wholesale NBA Jerseys, at a recent press briefing,cheap jerseys, said that the PNCR position on coalition is not new,Wholesale Jerseys, given that the party has been pushing for it since 2004.This,Wholesale Jerseys, he explained, was the rationale behind the ‘One Guyana Banner’. He added that the PNCR by its actions has demonstrated a willingness and commitment to move in that direction.“If the country is to move forward it is necessary for parties to collaborate.” He said that the nation has seen the benefits of coalitions in Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname where massive collaborations toppled the ruling administrations.In his 2004 address to the party’s 14th Biennial Congress, Corbin told the gathering that, “We must now build and strengthen our alliances with others. We must reach out to those who, like us, also see brighter horizons and are willing to struggle for a more disciplined, orderly, productive and prosperous Guyana.”This, he said, would be a ‘One Guyana’ in which all citizens,Cheap NHL Jerseys China, irrespective of race, religion and political persuasion can be freed from the threat of unchecked crime, can utilise public services without paying bribes,Cheap Jerseys For Sale, can tender for contracts knowing that awards will be made solely on merit, and can send their children to write examinations knowing they are not competing with those whose parents have already bought their results before entering the examination room.“The most regrettable casualties of these conditions are our youth who have become so disillusioned that nearly three-quarters of all of them have not only lost all hope for a future here and fervently wish for a future elsewhere,” Corbin said.He said that if Guyana is to survive, “we must all find ways of acting now…There is no time left…We must seize what may well be our last opportunity to save Guyana.”That coalition did not win the 2006 polls. Corbin said that it was due to the fact that they were not at the time able to build a broad enough platform.With the performances of the coalitions in Trinidad and Suriname there has been renewed talk of such a scenario in Guyana for the upcoming General Elections.Only recently, Raphael Trotman of the Alliance for Change, the second largest parliament opposition political party called for a national debate on the topic.Trotman said that everyone is undoubtedly excited about the prospects for Guyana following the People’s Partnership victory in Trinidad and Tobago and the “Mega Alliance” in Suriname.“I have no doubt that the power of two in an alliance is exponentially greater than one.” Trotman said that his party will have to examine the pros and cons before saying that the same situation can or cannot be replicated here.“For one, the ‘first past the post’ constituency system is inherently better geared for coalition government as against the party list system applied under a system of proportional representation.”He pointed to the fact that history, both recent and long past,NFL Jerseys From China, has shown that coalition governments are themselves prone to instability.“Yet indeed the multiplying effect of many hands at work is obvious and cannot be wished away. I recall one of the more striking lines from the movie The Ten Commandments which says: The city is made of bricks….The strong make many, the starving make few, the dead make none”. The AFC leader said that there is no doubt that the government is on a targeted campaign to compromise, harass, and de-rail the opposition leaders one by one using every device at their disposal, including getting opposition leaders to attack others. |
