We are one nation

Mar 08, 2015 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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We are ‘One Nation.’ We are assured that, in the campaign ahead, the overwhelming majority of Guyanese – young and old, rich and poor, women and men in all ten administrative regions and in the diaspora – want to win. They want to improve their quality of life and to remove the oppressive, undemocratic and anti-working class People’s Progressive Party Civic administration from office.
We are ‘One Nation.’ That is why we agreed on 14th February, in the “Cummingsburg Accord”, to combine our energy and resources to achieve the goal of national unity. Our singular mission is one of service, solidarity and national salvation. Representatives of A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance for Change toiled for weeks to hammer out the Cummingsburg Accord.
APNU and AFC will together lead the majority of citizens who struggle daily against disunity and against a dictatorial government and who seek a good life in this, the land of their birth.
We wrestle against a presidency that has damaged our Republic by the denial of democracy. We wrestle against a presidency which, for the last seven months, paralysed the Parliament by the promulgation of the obnoxious prorogation order. We wrestle against a presidency which, for eighteen years, has prevented the holding of local government elections.
We wrestle against the PPP that, daily, is inflicting damage on our university, teachers’ training college and schools. We wrestle against a party that is failing our young people and driving talented citizens to migrate to other countries. We wrestle against crime, corruption and cronyism.  It is written, indeed (Ephesians 6:12):
“…we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of the world; against spiritual wickedness in high places…”
We have come together because the nation is at breaking point. Guyanese have been fatigued by two decades of fickle promises, fatuous platitudes and failed projects.
–    Our young people demand jobs, not jails and drop-in centres;
–    Our women and children demand safe homes not ‘safe-houses;’
–    Our fishermen and miners demand protection from pirates and bandits;
–    Our paddy farmers and businessmen demand fairness; and
–    Our hinterland regions demand development not goodies, gifts and grants.
The People’s Progressive Party has dragged us to the very pit of the human development index. The record rates of arson, armed robbery, murders, suicides, road fatalities, illiteracy, unemployment, trafficking in persons and trafficking in narcotics, have made our country a pariah state in this hemisphere. Happy people do not kill themselves; happy people do not kill their wives and one another. Guyana is an unhappy country.
The PPP, worse still, has divided our nation. It offers favours to its favourites and but inflicts unbearable burdens on the masses of housewives, public servants, working people, paddy farmers, fisher folk and students.
We are ‘One Nation.’  And that is why we see the way forward through the establishment of a government of national unity – one that serves every citizen – not just a chosen few; one that serves all our regions – hinterland and coastland.
The APNU-AFC coalition is the boldest step taken in six decades to replace political hostility with unity; confrontation with cooperation; dictatorship with democracy. The coalition has chosen hope over despair and faith over fear. The coalition will give Guyanese:
–    An education system that will produce citizens of quality who will be happy to remain here at home to build our great and beautiful country; a system that will extend access to the information superhighway to support the education of our young people.
–    Employment opportunities in science, technology, engineering, mining, agro-processing and the arts to provide jobs and promote economic growth;
–    An empowerment policy that regularly renews local democracy by ensuring that local government elections are held every thirty-six months – as is stipulated in our Constitution – so that our villages, towns and neighbourhoods are well-governed;
–    An energy policy that utilizes our wind, water and solar power to provide cheap, renewable electricity to Guyanese in our urban, rural, riverine and hinterland communities;
–    An enterprise and economic development policy that provides a level playing field for local entrepreneurs and investors and our huge diaspora to develop our abundant resources;
–    A social policy that will harness and develop the creative energies of our people and that will support the holistic development of our athletes and young people; and
–    A security policy that protects our citizens and our territory, allowing Guyanese to feel safe as they go about their daily lives.
We are ‘One Nation.’ Our APNU-AFC coalition will lead this nation into the celebration on 26th May 2016 – fourteen months away – of the Fiftieth Anniversary of our Independence.
Our parents and foreparents came from different continents of the earth – here in the Americas; from Africa; from Asia and Europe – to labour for a good life.  We are their heirs. We shall not deny their descendants the fruits of their sacrifice.  We shall not allow a few greedy men and women to steal their legacy or to sell their birthright. We shall not allow the PPP to squander our inheritance. We shall not surrender our God-given right to live in the best, biggest and most beautiful and bountiful country in the Caribbean – Guyana.

(This article is part of the address by Brigadier David Granger, Presidential Candidate of A Partnership For National Unity and the Alliance For Change Coalition, at the launch of the General and Regional Elections Campaign, Pegasus Hotel, Kingston, Georgetown, on Wednesday, 4th March 2015.)

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