As We Go to the Polls…

May 09, 2015 Letters

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Dear Editor,
As we go to the polls Monday, there are a few things we need to reflect upon as we cast our vote for the next government.
For the last fifteen years or so our democracy has been suspended.  Justice has been corrupted and corruption in the issuance of government contracts has been the order of the day. Our financial and natural resources have been misused and mismanaged in mind boggling proportions.  There have been attacks on our press and a systematic attempt by the PPP to control our media and communications environment.  The freedom of access to information taken for granted in other democratic societies has been relegated to the dustbin with the blatant monopoly and abuse of the state media by PPP.
Abuses perpetuated by officials and ministers of the PPP administration have left Guyanese dumbfounded at the injustices that have been meted out against our men, women and children.  These stretch from the base brutality at the hands of members of the disciplined services, who instead of being reprimanded are promoted, to death threats and abuse of our women by ministers of the PPP itself.  The coercion of our courts to protect these guilty officials are clear enough evidence if any, of the state to which we have descended under the PPP, and the PPP’s own plans and intentions under any future government to which it may be elected.  With the return of Bharrat Jagdeo to the political frontlines of the PPP, their promise to us is very clearly that of an autocratic police state where ordinary Guyanese have no recourse to the law.
It is regrettable that the incumbent PPP has shirked many of the responsibilities to which it committed itself during its consecutive terms in office.  Its decisions on the sugar industry have left that economic sector in financial tatters and scattered its workers far afield. Rice farmers who contribute significantly to foreign currency reserves are now crying out at their financial distress due to significant underpayment for their produce.  All of the PPP’s claims of economic growth have included the massive expenditures on poorly done projects and the misappropriation of billions of dollars in taxpayers’ money.
Even without a feasibility study, pictures have been taken of the Amaila Falls which clearly show that the seasonality of the flow of water there raises doubts about the investment as a consideration in the first place. Yet tens of millions of United States dollars have been expended on building and maintaining a road to this location.
A hair-brained approach was similarly forthcoming in considering investments in the use of wind turbines on our shores. Where are the turbines and where is the cheap electricity?
The PPP’s greatest failure has however been in delivering on its promise of jobs to the nation’s workers.  In its twenty-two years in office the PPP talked so much and promised so much on jobs and job creation, but has it ever produced a sustainable plan for job creation to meet our nation’s evolving needs? Where is this plan?
With an estimated annual increase of fifteen thousand new job seekers before adjustments for retiring persons, etc.,  many school leavers, the unemployed and those looking for better jobs have had to put their dreams on hold in the absence of these promised jobs.  The best the PPP can claim is that every odd five years or so some ad-hoc company comes forward with a demand for jobs in the hundreds.  This is hardly an appropriate response to the jobs and incomes crisis Guyanese face.
The PPP administration has wiped out and demolished the dreams of an entire generation of Guyanese as many grand-parents watch their children and grand-children struggle under the weight of unemployment and underemployment that results from not earning enough to sustain a family.
As an intelligent people, we have been further subjected to abuse, humiliation and fear-mongering by the PPP in its recent political campaigning.  In the absence of any credible record to which it can lay claim, the PPP has once again sought to use race to incite fear and hate as means of soliciting votes.  This has to be rejected. Guyanese have come a far way and sacrificed much to be set against each other with fears perpetuated by a weak and corrupt administration.
In the few months of its formation, the Coalition APNU+AFC has demonstrated a positive force of transformation and change for Guyana, attracting well respected, accomplished Guyanese to their cause. This cause and promise which the Coalition has explained in its manifesto represents the hopes of all Guyanese going forward after these elections. This manifesto is a contract between the APNU+AFC and Guyanese. It has transformed our dreams and aspirations into a working document which we can all hold and subscribe to. And more importantly, in which we all have the opportunity to play our part.
The last twenty-two years of the Peoples Progressive Party have left us wondering at ourselves, questioning our future, with an extremely ill feeling about our destiny.  It is time for a new chapter in Guyana’s history.
Let us understand the issues at stake and the threats the PPP poses to our personal and national economic and social progress going forward.  Let us reason intelligently with ourselves and deduce the course of our history. At this juncture of our present, there is no one we need to turn to for advice. Because we all know everything we need to know.  We have seen the evidence of things past, as well as the promise of things to come under both parties.
This election, on May 11, may we choose wisely and be joyful in the heritage our forefathers fought for us.
Craig Sylvester

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