Brigadier David Granger(This is the first in a series of articles featuring the leading Presidential Candidates. This week David Granger details his plans to win the presidency and speaks candidly about the PNC’s losing streak and what he perceives were the errors) By Neil MarksWhen an internal squabble dislocated its support base, the main opposition People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) had to settle for both defeat and lesser seats in the National Assembly following the 2006 general elections.Party leader Robert Corbin could not recover from repeated challenges to unseat him from the highest office at Congress Place and chose to send the signal early that he was not interested in running again for President.David Granger was personally not interested in contesting the nomination, and up to September 2010, he was actually a part of the panel that was tasked with guiding the process that would lead to the naming of a presidential candidate.However, as the process kicked in, many started looking in Granger’s direction. They felt that he would be the ideal candidate to reverse the PNC’s losing streak since the historic 1992 elections, when the party, then under the late Hugh Desmond Hoyte, was unseated from its 28-year grip on power, marred by allegations of rigged elections and destructive economic policies – all blamed on the machinations of then PNC founder Forbes Burnham.Granger is not ready to admit the elections under Burnham were rigged.“I don’t have evidence that they were rigged,” Granger said in an interview with Kaieteur News.“You’ll have to look at the record. The record as far as the PPP is concerned is that the elections were rigged. I’ve heard people say that; I personally never rigged anything.”The ruling PPP, through President Bharrat Jagdeo, has accused Granger of having blood on his hands owing to an incident surrounding the 1973 elections when three of the PPP’s supporters were killed in Berbice when the government tasked the Army with transporting ballot boxes.“He was then stationed at Atkinson Field, now Timehri Airport. Second,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, Mr. Granger was not at that time in the management and control of the Guyana Defence Force. Third, he was not a member of the Directorate of the PNCR or the Government,” the PNCR has said in defence of Granger against the attacks.The PPP refers to the three persons killed as the “Ballot Box” martyrs, but Granger places their death squarely at the feet of the PPP owing to antagonistic tactics pursued by PPP founder Dr Cheddi Jagan, as is highlighted in the Commission of Inquiry report by Justice Dhanessar Jhappan.According to Granger,NBA Jerseys China, Jhappan attributed blame to Dr Jagan who was regarded as provocative in his speeches, which incited young people to “take some actions which ended up being to their detriment.”Granger charges that it was Jagan who instructed PPP supporters to prevent the removal of ballot boxes from polling stations and as a result of this they engaged in a tussle with soldiers who were instructed by the Army to protect the ballot boxes.The PPP has sought to discredit the Jhappan report, claiming the Commission was set up by the PNC regime with the intention to cover up the crime and justify the murders. But Granger is unfazed.“I don’t have blood on my hands; I was not there. I never killed anyone in my life.”Granger is unapologetic about having always espoused the values of the PNC and its founder leader Burnham, but he is ready to bring his own strategy to erase the problems he sees in Guyana. With his stellar academic and military education, Granger is ready to fight for the job.EducationDavid Granger was born to parents Chetwynd and Verleigh Granger. His father served as a Police officer and his mother worked as a nurse. He grew up in Bartica and at Whim on the Corentyne Coast, and in Georgetown where the family moved when he was about nine years old.By then, his young mind was moulded by the church, even if it confused him to have been exposed, at that young age, to three denominations of Christianity.He was born into an Anglican family, was baptized in Christ Church and sang in the choir at Christ Church. When he married Sandra Chan-A-Sue in 1970, it was at Christ Church. Later, they took their children, Han (who now runs Topaz Jewellery Shop) and Afuwa (who lives overseas) to Christ Church.Granger seems guarded about his family life; or at least hesistant to put them in the spotlight just yet. He respectfully declined to make available any portraits for publication at this time.But back to his childhood years. In Bartica, he attended St John’s Anglican School and on the Corentyne Coast, Auchlyne Primary. When the family moved to Georgetown, he attended the Moravian School.Later, he moved on to Queen’s College, where he completed his ‘O’ and ‘A’ Levels.While at Queen’s College, he had enl