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Criticisms of PPP/C govt. just for sake of criticism
Dear Editor,
Mr. Ramsaroop, in his article in the Kaieteur news, said that the PPP cannot handle criticism.
He seems to be suffering from memory loss. What he wants he cannot get in any part of this world. If your action carries a reaction you have to defend it, or you will be cast as a lame duck.
From the time Dr Jagan entered into politics he was criticised for just being himself, and he had to defend himself on the streets, the press and in Parliament. Dr Jagan, Gandhi, Nehru, Nelson Mandela, etc. had the same beliefs. Dr. Jagan was criticised for those beliefs and the same persons who criticised him praised Gandhi, Nehru and Mandela.
Ramsaroop and the rest like him criticise the PPP on a daily base. They do not analyse the country’s situation, and stop at nothing to belittle the government. Ramsaroop’s constant writing about VAT has become a broken record.
In an article: “Troubled times ahead” in the South Asian Observer, it states that India is caught in an unwelcome situation at present, almost in a dilemma about what it should do to come out of it. The prospect of a 9% or a 10% downturn was projected on the screen by responsible leaders who knew their economics. The thing that turns the nation’s hopes into despair is the slowdown brought about by the recession abroad.
In North America, where the recession has hit the hardest, the government did not lower the taxes. The price of every essential item has gone up by nearly three times while wages has gone down, and layoffs have become a norm of the day. The VAT tax in North America is called the GST and the PST, and it is 14%, and the government in these rich countries cannot afford to lower it, much less poor ones like Guyana.
In the nineties the Liberal party promised the people that they will get rid of the GST and the PST if they are elected to the government. When they were elected they discovered that they cannot run the government without that tax, and it is there to this day. The conservatives told the people the same thing, and what did they do? They reduced the GST by 1%, raised the health tax and put the government in a deficit.
All countries in the world have some form of VAT and it is there to stay. If governments could have done without it I am sure they would take it out.
The PPP in and out of government is criticised for one thing or the other. Dr. Jagan and the PPP were criticised for being Marxist and anti-capitalist.
Today the capitalist free market system, which people like Ramsaroop back, is in crisis. Guyana is not in the crisis as yet, but the crisis will hit it some time because we are linked to the world trading system.
The PNC took over the government in 1964, and when they were thrown out of the government the country was in shambles. The Bank of Guyana was $400 million in the red and everything was broken. Today the country is developing more than any other country with little wealth. Although the government is doing so much yet they are being criticised just for the sake of criticism.
Jagessar Sukhraj
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