In support of pensioners

May 05, 2013 Letters

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Dear Editor,
About two weeks ago, in the K/N letter page a very observant Guyanese drew our attention to the fact that the increase of $2.500 monthly to old age pension as part of the 2013 budget (12 months) was being started in May of 2013 instead of January 2013, thereby robbing pensioners of four months of their well deserved retroactive payments which total is $10.000.  Please correct this anomaly Mr. Finance Minister.     Additionally, unless there is a better idea, may I suggest that the ministry simply add two extra vouchers to the pension book to cover the GWI and the GPL subsidies and make them encashable at any post office and save our dear senior citizens the current hassles they encounter while trying to get their benefits from the GWI.  Do not leave this responsibility in the hands of the GWI and the GPL; Senior Citizens are mature enough to handle their own business.
BBH
The PNC’s partnership has certainly deviated from its promise of national unity
Dear Editor,
Following the xenophobic pronouncements made by Carl Greenidge on the sugar workers we now have none other than Winston Felix making the following statement, “Precious little has been done to implement the money laundering Act and we see visible indicators of enormous spending which, in my respectful view, has enough grounds upon which an investigation can be launched but yet we see nothing,”
Much can be extracted from this statement should an analysis be done. However, for the purpose of this letter, the focus will be on the ethnic implications of Mr. Felix’s pronouncement.
However, before producing the analysis proper, it is imperative for the readers to comprehend the nature of the messenger in this case Winston Felix, thus laying the catalyst for the discourse that will follow.
Winston Felix presided over the Guyana Police Force during a very difficult period in this nation’s history. It was during this period that we were held hostage by a gang of criminals which received tacit support in certain political quarters.  During this time women were brutally raped and executed, not even the elderly nor children were spared when the gang descended at Agricola, Lusignan and Bartica leaving a path of death and grief behind. And whilst all this was going on Felix as the senior most law enforcement official was captured on tape along with senior PNC member Basil Williams describing his efforts at misleading the public as to who the real perpetrators were. Felix seemed more concerned about the theft of a sizable sum of foreign currency from the office of the then PNC leader, Robert Corbin than the killing of several persons at Agricola by those criminals.
Additionally, no less a person than convicted drug trafficker Roger Khan admitted being a close friend of the very Felix in a newspaper ad. Khan also said that the two frequented a local dwelling place. The broken friendship which later ensued resulted in a crackdown against the very Roger Khan by his former close friend after the latter learned about the existence of his taped conversations.  To this date Felix is yet to provide this nation, and his supporters with an explanation on the issues mentioned above. Clearly, this man lacks the moral authority to make innuendoes and concoctions as highlighted in the first paragraph much less to sit in Parliament.
The article on the Demerara Wave’s website stated that Felix highlighted the recent high rise buildings that have now become a permanent feature on our landscape, as signs of money laundering. On a side note, such visible aspects of national development were unheard or unseen during the PNC’s despotic reign.
When one examines Felix’s pronouncement, it reeks of subtle racism because many of these buildings are in fact owned by Indo Guyanese who have toiled to develop themselves and this nation. Is it coincidental that at a time when Guyanese are preparing to observe the 175th Anniversary of the Arrival of East Indians to these shores that APNU via Winston Felix chose to target the Indian community to unleash its venom?
Therefore, the speech made by Dr. Jagdeo at the funeral of Pandit Reepu Deeman Persaud once again shows its relevance in ensuring that Guyana remains a country where all are included in our national developmental trajectory.
Here the APNU is saying that we should investigate all the high rise buildings most of which are owned by Indo Guyanese and in the same breadth they are also questioning the employment of Indians in the Public Service.
The nation should bear in mind that APNU and also the AFC believe that Indo Guyanese are not good enough to gain employment in the Public Service and secondly with Winston Felix’s pronouncement, Indo Guyanese don’t have the right to material possession regardless how hard they might have toiled to achieve what they have.
Attiya Baksh

 

 

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