I don’t mind throwing myself in the goat race

Dec 28, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,
City Hall’s gung-ho style of managing the City’s affairs without consultations with stakeholders will not cut it. Notwithstanding the issues surrounding the award of the contract for parking meters, talking with the private sector would have brought out the point that the parking meters will now be a financial burden on our new and growing middle class. One of the things the administration and City Hall need to realize is that Guyana has not reached that level of financial maturity that can allow it to afford such punitive taxes as parking meter fees that are a norm in well developed economies.
Also if City Hall takes a dim view of businesses because of underpaid taxes, they should also consider that businesses and the entire population of the city is unhappy with the management of City Hall. The nonsense at City Hall coupled with discontent with the budget has emboldened Jagdeo and the PPP to start preparing their campaign for the next election. Jagdeo is not joking. The Coalition administration has managed to engineer a political crisis all by itself in less than two years. It is time the PNCR recognize the need for new, modern ideas and leadership and incorporate people like myself into its administration. Much more needs to be done to impress the world and attract the kind of new foreign investment that will create much needed jobs.
One of the facts that the Coalition administration needs to recognize is that Guyanese have just about had it with their national politics. Guyana is a young nation on a journey of economic and social transformation in a global environment that is engaging in rapid technological progress. We cannot afford to be left behind in the fishbowl of our petty national politics. Both the PPP and the PNCR have demonstrated for us that we need new political leaders, individuals who have risen to the pinnacle of their careers who have and can exert influence and secure the respect and confidence of the masses, who can deliver on developing and managing a sturdy economic framework founded on sound governance principles in our government.
The last 50 years were part of that journey, a stepping stone to our future; the growing pains of a nation at birth. The call has already been made for us to break out of the mental chains of our national politics and present and consider new leaders and political alternatives. One of the realities about which I am certain is that the Coalition’s supporters do not want to see a return of the PPP to administration with the same crop of jokers we just threw out. Yet this is exactly what will happen if the Coalition does not integrate new leaders and ideas into its administration.
On the score of my being reintegrated into the government’s economic management framework, I had spoken to the President since September 2015 and prior to that his advisor on youth, Aubrey Norton, who knows me since the early 1990s. I had also chatted with the Minister of Finance himself, and even the Deputy Governor of the Bank of Guyana, and had filed applications at the Ministries of State and Foreign Affairs, respectively. The Minister of State was kind enough to acknowledge my application.
I imagine these esteemed gentlemen looking at my CV and saying to themselves, “But he just has a first degree in economics. He’s not qualified for the job he’s asking for. “To this I say, “Neither were many of your government’s ministers on entering office.” And secondly, people with a first degree in economics don’t engineer the defeat of a government that has been in power for 23 years. The old ways are done with. Finished! Gone! And rigged elections are not an option. Because the ABC countries, and now Europe, are unwilling to use their taxpayers’ money to offer financial support to illegitimate and corrupt governments. A friend of mine was jibbing me recently that I should give the presidency a shot. While it might have been a joke, if the Coalition seems intent on handing government back to the PPP, then maybe my countrymen would consider me in the goat race. Seasons’ Greetings! And May Love, Peace and Prosperity Be Your Blessing in the New Year!
Craig Sylvester

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