Prepare for a torrid time; the silly season approaches

Jul 21, 2014 Editorial

The spate of questions regarding the necessity of producing a birth certificate no older than six months prior to applying for a Guyana Passport, defies reason particularly in the absence of a rational explanation from the Ministry of Home Affairs. Officials from the Central Passport and Immigration Office who are demanding conformity to this strange requirement certainly do not know, and therefore Jane or John Public is none the wiser, but are expected to be compliant. It looks as though we are fast becoming a nation of blind and dumb people from top to bottom of the social ladder.
Indeed, one wag offered that this new requirement was dreamt up by someone with general elections on the brain manifested by an overwhelming sense of entitlement supported by overweening desire for a parliamentary majority. One Member of Parliament has even suggested the virtually unchecked inward migration of Asians is one ploy aimed at securing a numerical advantage at any upcoming polls. Simply put, the somewhat lame parliamentary opposition should not be twiddling their thumbs at this juncture, but should be extremely alert to the shenanigans at which the PPP/C has over the past several years proven themselves to be adept and without equal.
A cursory examination of the fraudulent elections question will toss up the possibilities for pre-stuffed ballot boxes reminiscent of past claims against the Burnham regime. The PNC as past masters of electoral irregularities, may be in for another lesson in crookery though probably not as subtle as the attempt to manipulate the results of the 2011 elections. The political parties competing at the next general elections have to remove themselves from their comfort zones and concentrate their energies on mounting an elections campaign which has as a principal focus, all the financial misadventures that the government has shown itself to be comfortable with at the expense of the social and economic well-being of the people.
Opposition Members of Parliament do not inspire a high level of confidence in the people who voted for them. One gets the impression that everything is a game of brinksmanship for politicians on both sides of the spectrum with everyone trying to score points. The government at this stage is hard pressed to justify the big ticket projects that it is hell-bent on committing public funds to, in the face of consistent evidence that good money is being thrown continually at investment after questionable investments. The negotiators unfailingly present to the populace an image of ineptitude that borders on criminality. The haste with which these officials dispense with swathes of the national patrimony is enough to make the ghosts of the founding fathers of this nation perform like tumblers at a circus.
With the number of advisors available to President Ramotar, it is beyond belief the level of bad advice to which he may be exposed on a daily basis. It is no wonder that for the most part he seems out of the loop. It is as if the charlatans by whom he is surrounded share a vested interest in making him look (and sound) bad. A charitable thought would be that presidential advisors are in it for the perks and privileges and really are out of their depth with regard to their professed areas of expertise. It is somewhat like a financial advisor who claims status as an economist, but does not even have an economics first degree. That is the depth of the con game that passes for governance and to which we are expected to subject ourselves uncomplainingly.
Having stated what the opposition parties have to do if they want to be taken seriously, we would suggest that the incumbent seek ways out of the credibility morass in which it has found itself through its own fault. The PPP/C will have a hard time convincing its dwindling East Berbice constituency that keeping the current tariff in place for the Berbice River Bridge is to their benefit. It will have to come up with plausible reasons why the Skeldon Factory continues to be underutilised; why the Enmore packaging plant is underperforming just to mention a few. If the truth be told we are in for a torrid time during the silly season, whenever that is.

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Prepare for a torrid time; the silly season approaches

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