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It was just
a matter of time. The NDC having
skillfully set up the Parliamentary
Elections Office of Grenada for the
onslaught of criticism that it packaged
as genuine concern for the protection of
our democracy, the next challenge is
how, and in what order, it would release
its agents of propaganda to put into
effect the plot to discredit the
integrity of the Electoral institution
of the country and by implication, the
ruling administration.
Desperate
to capture state power next time around,
the NDC, from all indication, proposes
to cry foul should it loose the upcoming
general election. From our reading of
events as they unfold, it intends to
claim that the election and the
electoral processes surrounding it, are
fraudulent thereby giving it some
legitimacy in either asking for fresh
elections or a recount of the votes in
some key constituencies. The final
objective of the party in this scenario
will be to call attention to itself by
staging demonstrations to make the
country ungovernable.
But to
achieve all of this, the NDC have to
first set the stage. First, it must
attempt to use its agents to discredit
the Supervisor of Elections on the
ground that she is not ‘qualified’ and
competent to hold the post and ensure
transparency in the functioning of the
Office. Secondly, it must link alleged
internal ‘incompetence’ and suspicions
about operations at the Elections Office
to external events. So the party then
throws in the mix for good measure
allegations of ‘interference’ by
‘Jamaicans’ in the internal affairs of
the organization. But such alleged
‘interference’ has to have consequences
for it to be believed. Hence, the idea
is peddled by the NDC that the reported
“computer crash” can be attributed to
‘Jamaican interference’, supposedly on
behalf of the ruling NNP administration
of Keith Mitchell.
The next
stage in the plot is to shout as loud as
possible that the National Voters’ List
is suspect. Never mind that anomalies
and discrepancies are among many other
such features of preliminary Voters’
List in every Commonwealth democracy
which explains why contesting
political parties are invariably invited
to scrutinize such Lists in the interest
of transparency and fair play.
But to the
NDC, anomalies or discrepancies, despite
their universal occurrence, suggest
‘evidence’ that the NNP might be
intending to ‘steal’ the general
election whenever it is held.
Grenadians
of all political stripes must spend the
time to understand what is happening
here and the implication for our
stability as a young democracy. Simply
put, the NDC is alleging problems with
the electoral machinery of the country
before general elections are held and
plans to whine about this loud enough,
so that when it looses the next general
election, as we expect it to, the stage
would have been set for the party to
label the outcome bogus. The NNP expects
this outcome and is prepared for it.
Brothers
and sisters of Grenada, Carriacou and
Petit Martinique, beware!
Let the
Progress Continue with Positive Change
under the NNP!
NNP
Perspective week ending April 11th, 2008 |
