Whoever wins must govern more responsibly than they have campaigned

May 10, 2015 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
After 12 weeks of campaigning, the Guyanese electorate is more than happy it is coming to an end, because it is not only a waste of good money, but it was a season of much aggravation and half truths.  This campaign really lacked seriousness, especially from the PPP side where we continue get silly statements like “they will militarize the government.” and some statements too ideologically racist to even repeat like that much-publicized Babu Jaan speech.
From both teams, their manifestos were released too late.  They have failed to answer the big questions early enough and even at this stage the answers lack details. We still do not know the intimate details on how they will create the new jobs and how will they help the thousands that need to pass their exams in the right subject areas to accelerate the nation-building process. At least APNU+AFC has committed to a 100-day plan which will immediately change the way we govern ourselves, but from the PPP/C, all we got was a regurgitation and rehashing of old and failed plans from yesteryear.
Up to now, I have not seen anyone talking about how we will reduce the fiscal deficit of G$30 billion that continues to drive greater borrowing.  Jobs is the number one issue among voters, but after 22 years, the PPP/C cannot provide adequate evidence that they have been able to create enough well-paying jobs for the young people of Guyana.  Yet they have the audacity to ask the people for one more term and to take people back to the Burnham era.
It is clear that the PPP/C is ashamed of their own track record, since it is laced with years of policy failures.  Actually if one looks at the last four years under Hoyte/Greenidge from 1988-1992, it had a materially more significant impact on the lives of the working poor than all 15 years of the Jagdeo/Ramotar/Rohee troika.
The PPP/C approach in 2015 is to spend more billions on mega projects without leveling with the people as to where the money will come from to pay back all the debts that they are incurring to fund these projects.  What is even more disheartening is the inability of the PPP/C to account to the people as to how much potential value is being earned by the country for these billion-dollar expenditures?  What we continue to get from the PPP/C is more promises to build the Road to Brazil and a Deep Water Harbour, but after a decade they cannot convert this promise to reality.
This is what the APNU+AFC Coalition offers; an alternative narrative led by people with better credibility to convert some of their promises to reality.  So the Coalition will reform the Constitution, they will establish and empower the Procurement Commission, the Integrity Commission and the Ethnic Relations Commission to do their jobs.  They will engage in police reform to ensure that the police force actually protects and serves the people of Guyana.  But most importantly, the APNU+AFC has committed to pay all classes of workers 10 percent wages increase across the board within 100 days and then enter into collective bargaining agreement with the unions on a way forward to achieve a living wage for the working poor.
Guyanese relationships with each other have been diminished by this campaign, especially in villages where the majority are East Indians. Increasingly, a number of former PPP/C supporters have openly express support for the Coalition to the displeasure of some of their fellow villages.  Those relationships will have to be repaired.  The best way to repair them is to ensure that the incoming Government becomes the grandfather of Guyana and is all-embracing to all of our people, irrespective of whom they supported on May 11, 2015.  There is no place for vindictive politics in Guyana.
Whoever wins on May 11th, 2015, must know that there will have to have some level of fiscal prudence and austerity to protect the long term future of the nation; we cannot get fiscally wild. Whoever wins, must govern more responsibly than they have campaigned.
Sase Singh

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News