After 20 years in office, the PPP regime has lost its way

Dec 02, 2012 Letters

---

Dear Editor,
Of late, we have been witnessing a very distasteful and idiotic display of leadership by the ruling PPP regime. We had hoped that by now they would have responded to the waning popularity and the lack of confidence in their ability to perform and manage the country’s resources adequately.

After almost a year in office, the government has not been able to implement and stick with a workable set of economic policies, or for that matter, any policy that will reduce corruption, crimes, illegal trafficking of narcotics and improve the lives of the poor and the working class, including the mothers and children in Plastic City. Instead of focusing on the deepening social and economic crisis faced by the masses, the Jagdeo/Ramotar cabal has been indulging in a vulgar, irresponsible, disrespectful and obnoxious display in Parliament and elsewhere over the Rohee affair. And for President Ramotar to say that the PPP has no confidence in Speaker Trotman and then allow the Attorney General to take the Speaker to court over the Rohee issue speaks volumes about his poor leadership. We remind Mr. Ramotar that Parliament is an independent body and must be allowed to function without constraints from him and his PPP cabal. It is time for commonsense prevail and for Mr. Ramotar and his cabal to make the people’s business their highest priority. That and not the Rohee issue should be their primary focus.
What is taking place is that the partisan politics being practiced by the minority PPP regime have trumped good governance and the proper management of the people’s affairs. This has led to the highest levels of corruption, crimes never seen before, and a social, political and economic dysfunctional system in which the rich and the powerful are getting richer and the poor and the working class continues to suffer.
After 20 years of PPP rule, the cycle of poverty continues unabated in Guyana as hundreds of homeless Guyanese make the streets their homes and the hard concrete pavement their beds. No money, no food, no water, no shower, no clothes and no medical check-ups for God’s less fortunate children. These homeless people rely on the mercy of passers-by for a meal and clothes and many die as a direct result of starvation and poor health.

This highlights the demands for sustained economic initiatives to achieve the requisite levels of poverty reduction and homelessness if Guyana is to attain sustainable development for its people. In 1992 when the PPP took office, it promised a number of things including an end to corruption and power blackouts, adequate potable water for its citizens and transparency in governance. Twenty years later, corruption and power blackouts have gotten 1000 percent worst, water taps in homes and business and the fire hydrants in the city have all gone dry. And the minority PPP government has become far more secretive than the Burnham/Hoyte administration. The Jagdeo/Ramotar regime has failed the people and as a result deserved the failing “F” grade.
Many Guyanese, including some diehard PPP supporters desperately wait for the day when the PPP cabal would present themselves as mature, disciplined and serious about safeguarding their rights and protecting their well-being. The regime must be blamed for the destitute situation the homeless, elderly, youths, the poor and the working class and the mothers and children of Plastic City found themselves.
During the 2011 elections campaign, the PPP begged the voters to give them one more chance to make their lives better. But at this critical time in the country’s history, the people need politicians who can lead and not those who spread propaganda, distortions and untruths at every opportunity. That is not what was told to the people and certainly not what the masses expected from the Jagdeo/Ramotar regime.

After twenty years in office, the PPP regime has lost its way to govern the nation.
We are convinced that those in the regime should be schooled on how to separate them- selves from their often crass propaganda campaign style and as ministers must act on behalf of all the people and not only for their friends and supporters. But we have a two face regime which tells its supporters one story at secret bottom house meetings and then in the public domain tell a completely different story.

They have even blamed Kaieteur News and Stabroek News for their failures. The most recent example is Minister Robeson Benn blaming Kaieteur News for the sudden collapse of EZ Jet airline. Whatever their reasoning, it is both troubling and frightening to see how this minority PPP regime has descended to a new low. What a shame? This is sub-par politics and poor governance at best. Have the leaders of the PPP thought about what message this kind of two-face display sends to the masses? And have they not realized that the people are tired of their blame game, propaganda and distortions?
The truth is, if Guyana is to progress as a nation and the lives of the poor and the working class improve, it needs leaders who are honest, decisive, responsible, mature and transformational. The people should not accept mediocre leadership that is currently offered by this cabal.

They must speak out about the political, economic and social injustices being practiced by the Jagdeo/Ramotar cabal. They must stand-up and demand their rights from this uncaring and corrupt PPP regime. The youths and the poor and the working class must tell the PPP cabal that they have had it; enough is enough. They must demand that the regime abandon its elementary and banal form of governance.
 Dr. Asquith Rose and Harish S. Singh.

---

---