This is the question that should be on the mouth, in the thoughts and in the consciousness of every Guinean between now and the very few hours before the election of 24th November, 2019. I see this as a clarion call and appeal to the conscience of the people of this precious republic to pause for a sober reflection on the decisions they are about to make.

For  few weeks now, I have been on ground to observe, study and learn the makeup and what forms the political culture of the republic and have reasons to conclude that of every political values I have experienced in Africa, the consciousness and political orientation of Guinea Bissau is second to none and I will recommend other Africa evolving democratic experiment to borrow a leave from these people and their unique way of acceptance of politics as part of their progress and growth, and not as a do or die affair. Permit me to draw some inferrances to my claim.

During the extensive campaign by the candidates, I noticed that there is no antagonism or display of bitterness towards the opponents and this boils down to the followers who can always join the train of the other candidate to dance to their music and move on, depending on the person that has the music at the material time. 

Also, you will see followers wearing the brand of PAIGC hailing the entourage of APU-PDGB/PRS as if they are the same party and no qualms. I even marveled at the occasions when JOMAV or General De POVO will meet NUNO and they will stop to exchange pleasantries and move on. To me, that is the highest display of pragmatism and sportsmanship in political progress and I commend these gallant men for this.

Another significant thing I noticed is that the candidates do not go to their people to share money or bags of rice or any other items that will sway their allegiance towards mundane things, rather they go to negotiate with them on the reasons why they should be given the opportunity to better the lot of the people. To my surprise, these local people are outspoken, they ask questions, they speak their minds and they remind you that they will wait for you to account for your services. This is the true essence of politics between the leaders and the led.

The enters PAIGC’s Domingos, the man with the money bags to change the rules. Rather than go to the locals to negotiate like others, he prefer to send stooges with bags of money, clothes, rice, etc to share. The bargain is “Vote for me and I will give you more”. The question now is: How many people did he manage to win with this style? Why will you share to some community and leave others?  How is the politics of discrimination going to help him unite the republic as he claims? What program does he have that he couldn’t articulate when he had the opportunity as a Prime Minister? The questions are unending, but the bottomline is “Guinea Bissau is not for sale”.

It is up to the people who collected free money to either mortgage their future or do the right thing for self and generations unborn. Guinea Bissau need people with ideas to harness her future and not people with discriminative tendencies to further hold the republic down from development.