The AFC must stop this vote-pandering nonsense

Apr 19, 2012 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
The AFC must stop this vote-pandering nonsense. Stop playing stupid political games. Kaieteur News reported AFC Parliamentarian, Cathy Hughes, suggesting that the NCN’s budgeted $81M be removed and used to subsidise electricity for Linden. I suspect the PNC/APNU will support that idea too.
This is high class nonsense. While I condemn the vengefulness of the PPP’s decision to stop subsidising electricity to Linden, the decision itself was always a fundamentally proportional and fair thing to do. Now, the PPP decided to do it because they got hammered in Linden and outrightly rejected by Lindeners. But beyond the vindictiveness, the decision itself is a sound one. Taxpayers all around this country, including Lindeners, cannot be bailing out this cake shop known as GPL with its yearly US$720,000 rental of generators that cost US$900,000 when only Lindeners can obtain subsidised electricity rates. That is unfair. Either all get subsidised or none get subsidised. There are many other pockets of this country in more dire economic circumstances than Linden and they do not get subsidised. Why should Linden?
Stupidity, disproportionality and inequality by the opposition should not be the response to vengefulness, when behind that nasty act, this is a truly fair decision. In fact, the PPP should have cut this lifeline a long time now. Let Lindeners pay their fair share of electricity cost like Georgetowners.
I am all for taking away NCN’s and GINA’s funding or slashing that funding while opening up the media business to more independent operators. It is high time these jokers parroting government propaganda while being paid by taxpayers for cheap trickery, are put out to pasture. But don’t take taxpayers’ money from one bad decision and choice and throw it at another.
You cannot remove or reduce the gross inequality enjoyed by GINA and NCN and give that money to another group to enjoy a gross inequality such as subsidised electricity rates. There are poor people all over this country thieving electricity because they cannot afford to pay GPL’s asking rates. The majority of them don’t live in Linden. If you can’t subsidise them, you can’t subsidise Lindeners. End the gravy train.
How does the AFC think this would appear to the more than 700,000 Guyanese living outside of Linden when they give Lindeners a break on their electricity rates while that more than 700,000 suffer with regular ridiculously high electricity tariffs? Who is making decisions in this political organization to think it is a good measure to appease a small minority while potentially making stark raving mad the massive majority who are peeved at not getting the same relief? Which political organization could see capital in such a dumb decision?
M. Maxwell

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