Standoff between Opposition and Govt....“We want to break the gridlock" - Moses Nagamootoo

Standoff between Opposition and Govt….“We want to break the gridlock” – Moses Nagamootoo

Nov 29, 2012 News

– By Latoya Giles

Yesterday marked one year since Guyanese went to the polls and Alliance for Change Executive Member Moses Nagamootoo says that his party still wants to break the gridlock and meet a consensus since there is the need for serious negotiations.
On this first anniversary of “the people’s victory”, AFC strongly condemns “the PPP’s divisive tactics. We call on the administration to halt its campaign of racism and division; to stop its wanton attacks on Alliance For Change and our leaders.”

Member of Parliament (AFC) Moses Nagamootoo

According to Nagamootoo, one year ago, the triangle of political power in Guyana was turned upside down. He said that the majority of Guyanese forming the base of that power, chose to be on top, and created history by forcing government to be accountable to them.
“At the November 28, 2011 elections 342,126 voters, forming 65 per cent of the electorate, actually voted…the low voter turn-out told its own story of rebellion by our people, fed-up as they were with the dominant, old parties, their abuse of power principally through racism and corruption,” Nagamootoo stated.
He said that when the Alliance for Change (AFC) contested, it was the youngest party, with a brighter vision. Nagamootoo said that it inscribed on its banner the ambition and hopes of young people.
It was to provide an alternative, and made a difference by holding, for the first time ever, the balance of power between the two rival blocs, he added.
The results he said gave PPP/C 166,340 or 48.62%; APNU 139, 678 or 40.83% and AFC 35,333 or 10.33% of votes cast. Seats in the National Assembly were 32, 26 and seven respectively, thus giving the combined opposition a one-seat majority.
Those results, Nagamootoo said, showed for the first time in 20 years, that the PPP lost its absolute majority in Parliament. It took the presidency and formed the government on a minority of the votes. “Its side-kick, The United Force (TUF), was decimated after its leader defected to PPP/C,” Nagamooto said.
He went on to say that the story of the past 12 months has given new life to politics in Guyana. Nagamootoo said that Guyanese have never been so aware of the level of corruption in Guyana as the parliamentary opposition initiated an unrelenting process of exposure.
With assistance from the non-government and independent newspapers, Nagamootoo said that the AFC played no small role in unearthing botched state contracts, hidden funds and widespread corruption.
According to him, the budget cuts have exposed the bureaucratic “fat cats” and party activists in sinecure positions drawing down million-dollar salaries and allowances. He said that the AFC has “de-gutted” the wicked waste of our people’s monies on unnecessary projects like a Marriott Hotel/Casino, hefty benefits for past presidents, subsidies to corrupt propaganda machinery like GINA and NCN. He said that they have argued that such monies were better spent on old age pensions and community improvement.
The fire in Guyana’s politics for accountability is responsible for the display of despotic tendencies by the PPP, Nagamootoo said. His party is also exposing its distressful dissent to rabid racism and political insanity.
“How else could anyone explain the President’s odious comparison of a section of the opposition with a hog and a pig,” Nagamootoo questioned?
Nagamootoo said that his party strongly believes that such reckless talks belonged to an era of political cannibalism as when Hitler compared Jews to “vermins” and “rats”, and Rwandian killers condemned opponents as “cockroaches”, in order to justify their extermination.
He said that the minority PPP government has been masquerading as a majority and therefore refuse to accept the new Guyana dispensation.
“The PPP alone has to be blamed for the stand-off between the President and Parliament and it is now busy engineering a confrontation between the Judiciary and Parliament,” Nagamootoo stated.
Nagamootoo further stated that the PPP has foisted its paramountcy over the state media and flagrantly uses them as party organs to carry singularly party views and opinions, and more especially as vehicles for cowardly lies, disinformation and slander of our leaders.
He said what appears to be a rehash of an FBI Manual used in the United States against the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Panthers is now seen in Guyana as the “Donald Duck Doctrine”, where disinformation and duplicity are weapons of choice in a campaign of division and diversion. Spying and wire-tapping are now “legal” and routine.
He said that the PPP has misappropriated state resources nationally and in the various regions as social bribes in a failed bid to garner political support. All those acts which continue unabated have undermined the political fabric of our nation, weakened our democratic institutions and incited racial insecurity and social fear throughout Guyana.
Nagamootoo called for the confirmation of appointment of suitably qualified persons to such constitutional posts as Chancellor of the Judiciary, Chief Justice, Commissioner of Police and Ombudsman and for the cessation of one-party control and manipulation of State Media, and ensure equitable access by all parliamentary parties to state media and respect of the right to reply.
Nagamootoo maintained that the AFC is a serious national political player, which places the nation’s business above party interest. He said that they have no vested interest in any stalemate or gridlock that would cripple national development or commercial life.