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Will Guyanese be able to afford internet for these election season handout laptops?

Oct 31, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor,
Five thousand laptops as part of the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) have arrived. They will he handed out in what will be an obvious PPP election gimmick and attempt to bribe taxpayers with their own tax dollars, which paid for the laptops in the first place.
Handing out stuff in the middle of an election is plain old gimmickry. It preys on the tragic deprivation syndrome that afflicts impoverished societies such as Guyana. I expect the laptops to be handed out strategically to maximise potential vote benefit.
But there is a bigger issue here. Whoever gets that first batch of 5000 laptops will have to ask themselves after the celebrating is over whether they can afford to pay the ridiculous prices for decent internet access in Guyana.
The PPP government decided to hand out laptops but has done nothing to create an environment of internet affordability for the mainly poor people who will get the bulk of these laptops. The internet is a rich source of knowledge and information which can help many in Guyana expand their knowledge, particularly our students.
The fact that many Guyanese cannot afford internet access on these election-season laptops due to crushing debts, bills and cost of living stressors after paying heavy taxes and VAT is the true tragic irony of this entire OLPF exercise. Most Guyanese cannot afford reliable and quality internet access because the telephone industry landscape is one that does not facilitate competition, which in turn drives prices lower.
The PPP has done nothing in 19 years to alter the monopolistic telephone industry that exists in Guyana. Now that it is giving laptops to you and me struggling with debts, bills and cost of living, the PPP’s inaction on the telephone industry monopoly becomes an important election issue.
M. Maxwell

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