Embracing the rich at the expense of the poor

Dec 17, 2010 Letters

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Dear Editor,
I have been a member of the PPP for about 30 years and PYO before that. I have functioned in various capacities and wrote prolifically against the PNC dictatorship and in defence of the PPP and the Civic/PPP Government.
The General Secretary have himself written to me and complimented me on my fine writing and stated that they would find it very difficult to refute what I write about.
Today and commencing some time ago I have spoken out against certain anti working people class position of this government both on TV and in the Press and also in my Thursday column that I had in the Kaieteur News.
I have spoken out against the swing of this government away from the underprivileged and the workers and its embrace of the rich at the expense of the poor. You find some of them hugging up those who were in the committee to reelect Hoyte, while they ignore and marginalise stalwarts of the PPP. They taught us to hate those people.
Many of our “leaders” have become part of and live like the ostentatious rich without any regret as they turn their backs on the people that the Party has pledged to represent.
Essentially it has become a party of the rich as the President’s clique gains increasing hold over the party and over so many aspect of the governing structure.
We the members are partially to blame as unfortunately we vote at congress on a popularity contest rather that on a clear understanding of the performance, the interests of the candidate and their lack of connection to the class roots of the party. We tend to fawn upon people who are presented to us as leaders and also we sometimes believe them as they massacre the good name of others within the party who may be in a position to challenge their ambitions and who may be critical of them.
It is time that we all begin to look closely at what has been transpiring before our very eyes. Especially since the death of Dr Cheddi Jagan, we have seen the drift away from his legacy; no more lean government, growing and endemic corruption, forestry concessions and land to those businessmen who are friends or who can pay the requisite draw back, lavish gifts of tax exemptions to the selected, in one instance it was not legal but it was granted and it was retroactively passed into law subsequently.
Look at the vulgar level of pension that has been voted for ex Presidents. It’s unreasonable especially considering the austerity imposed on the workers.
The hurt I feel as I am forced to endorse the call by Andaiye in the SN dated Thursday, December 2, is worse than the victimization, the licks and the lock ups I endured under the PNC.
Andaiye called upon Donald Ramotar, the General Secretary of the PPP, to go around the country in disguise so as to recognise the deepening inequalities in Guyana.
I as a person who have always advocated for the working people of this country and have written against the fiscal austerity measures that have restricted the wages of the workers, have come to recognise this deepening of inequality, this blatant betrayal, across the spectrum, of the working people of this country, this blatant betrayal of the members and supporters of the PPP most of whom are workers.
I have written and argued within the Party that the Private Sector must be supported; that the private sector must be encouraged to be patriotic as they deal with the socially generated capital that is under their ownership and control; but also that the Private Sector has serious limitations, economic and otherwise.
What happens if the Private Sector for a number of factors, do not want to invest in certain areas. Does the state intervene to invest to create jobs or does it leave the abandoned people to their fate.
I have written in support of Jagan’s position that we should have a tri-sectoral economy that also includes the state and cooperative sector.
Cooperatives are a useful tool to help alleviate poverty and create economic benefits. This sector has not been given any sort of priority. In fact it was placed apparently on the back burner.
The ruling governmental elites do not want to hear about the state’s involvement in investments. I remember against serious opposition within the PPP and from myself and others on the board of the Guyana Cooperative Insurance Scheme that Bharrat Jagdeo pushed for its privatization. It was a profitable concern and made profits and paid millions in corporate taxes, but it was privatized and the new owners of the majority shares was given a magnanimous management contract that meant very little profits nearly no taxes and very little dividend to the NIS that held 44 percent of the shares.
Today suddenly Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo wants, against better sense and a lot of opposition, to invest in “The Mariot Hotel”. I think the figure is 15 to 20 million US dollars.
Would it not be better to invest in agri processing and generally in agriculture, upgrading the drainage system in so many areas that need it so as to put back the farmers on the land?
The Minister speaks of and is proud of the increase in nontraditional exports, speaks of grow more food. But where is the money to put the D&I in place. Look at the land schemes put in place by Jagan and ask what has this Cabal put in place to really facilitate the expansion and development of the agri-sector. The result is higher prices for agri produce. Compound this with stagnating or lower purchasing power of the workers and you have the persistent and growing poverty.
What is the state of the small rice farmers? Facing deep crisis; abandoned by the state; deeply indebted to the banks and living at subsistence level.
I also recognise that its roots are directly connected with the accession of Bharrat Jagdeo to the Presidency of Guyana. He did not have the political experience and he was not in any way grounded with the grass roots and the general needs of the country and its people.
He of course had his aspiration, his ambition to become President and so he played his cards well with the assistance of his mentor Mrs. Jagan. His selection came as a shock and there were tremendous opposition to his candidacy at the regional members meeting that were called to discuss and decide on this matter.
There was no graciousness and even Janet the person who gave him the Presidency on a platter was treated with contempt when she criticised the taking away of the ads from SN, Bharrat Jagdeo told her and us all that she was an ordinary citizen. Even then he did not seem to understand that even ordinary citizen has the right to criticise his policies and decisions.
Today we have seen that the President have pursued policies and decisions that have seen the formation of a Bharrat clique within the leadership the PPP and the movement to outright capitalist policies without any real adjustments that would in a real way work in the interest of the vast majority of working people.
The PPP under the leadership of Cheddi Jagan recognised the need to defend and support local businessmen. It also recognised the need for foreign investments but it also recognised the need for the State to invest and also for the development of a strong cooperative structure now more or less abandoned by the Present clique.
Rajendra Bisessar

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