This is still the same old PPP and PNC at work

Dec 12, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor,
On November 28, 2011, the Guyanese people voted for change. They expected cooperation after the election results. To date, there has been no cooperation and change. Only more confrontation and hardheadedness. Donald Ramotar’s PPP went backwards and picked the same set of failures from the Jagdeo days for the Cabinet. No change there.
After projecting itself as a reformed and moderate entity in the election and after trying to distinguish itself from the PNC, APNU’s street occupation/protest is making it no longer discernible from the PNC. An initial legitimate right to protest has seemingly now become protest for protest sake.
The latest protest is to boycott businesses in bed with the government. This is still the same old PPP and PNC at work. Their pursuit of the polarizing politics of animus, confrontation and trepidation is the same old foolishness that has savaged this country. The PPP and the PNC/APNU are making a mockery and denigrating the November 28 wishes of the Guyanese people.
Those who voted for APNU, and not necessarily for the PNC, have to ask themselves, who is really in control in this APNU/PNC setup and who is driving these protests? Is it Granger and Roopnarine or is it the old firm of antagonistic politics of Corbin and others?
APNU/PNC has already lost serious political capital with those crossover voters and moderate Africans who came out in force to vote for it in 2011. Similarly, the PPP has lost vital ground with those disgruntled crossover and moderate Indians who were really hoping for a change in personnel, attitudes and philosophy with the new Cabinet and a clean break from Bharrat Jagdeo.
The new Cabinet stocked with Jagdeoites, offer no such relief. Now that they got the Statements of Polls (SOPs) they wanted, PNC/APNU is yet to tell us what exactly their beef is.
About this business of boycotting businesses which are in bed with the government, it is an effective sounding strategy with suspect practical application. A message that the PSC’s partisan conduct during the elections will not be tolerated in the future is never a bad thing. A boycott may increase the savings rate for PNC/APNU supporters, a good thing in a country operating like a runaway train of consumerism.
However, are Guyanese willing to deny themselves for the sake of making a political point for a failed entity like APNU/PNC? How can APNU/PNC expect its poor supporters and the poor Guyanese people in general to see dirt cheap pricing particularly during Christmas season when price wars plummet prices and walk away?
People do not earn enough to possess the power of economic choice like APNU/PNC wants. If the intent is to boycott businesses in bed with the government, which are those businesses? Who determines which business is in bed with the government? Does mere membership in an organisation like the PSC entitle a business to be boycotted? Who are APNU/PNC supporters going to buy from when they boycott these businesses?
The events of the past two weeks are searing confirmation that the PPP and the PNC/APNU cannot change and will not change. They are deadlocked in a mentality of antagonism and reprisal. They are corruptly constituted entities with no real internal democracy and no renewal of power. As long as the old dinosaurs and charlatans continue to dominate those parties, the stink from Congress Place and Freedom House will stifle this land, denying people the ability to breathe.
They have both returned to their confrontational politics. The AFC, which has demonstrated remarkable maturity during and after these elections, stands in the middle of this miasma, crying out like a prophet in its own land, while these two frauds that masquerade as political representatives of the people continue to take us down a nightmare. Wake up Guyanese people, wake up. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
M. Maxwell

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News