Why things are not going to get better

Jul 25, 2017 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Another week, another crisis! Another prison break! Another calamity for the APNU+AFC administration! Is this the ‘change’ that people voted for two years ago. What has gone wrong and how can it be fixed?
It is a myth that people voted for change in 2015. People voted along party and ethnic lines in 2015, as they did in 2011. The results of the 2015 general and regional elections mirrored the results of the 2011 elections. This means that the people of Guyana really did not vote for change in 2015; they voted for their respective parties.
The difference between 2011 and 2015 was that in 2015, there was a pre-election coalition of APNU and the AFC. These two parties, collectively, did not increase their percentage of the electorate over 2011. They simply combined to oust the PPPC.
APNU campaigned on the basis of the need for change, but really did not need to campaign at all, since the outcome of the elections was no different from 2011. APNU+AFC got 51% of the total votes, just as they did in 2011 when they campaigned individually.
The voting patterns in Guyana, concentrated along the lines of race and party, are a disincentive for change. When a political grouping simply has to merge with another party to win an election, it really does not need to bother too much with ensuring that it delivers on its campaign promises.
If an argument can be made that people re-voted for the parties of the coalition because of the promise of change, then the parties have not vindicated the faith which their supporters placed in them. The coalition has plodded along when it comes to its main elections promises.
The good life was not a campaign promise. The green state was not articulated during the election campaign. Housing solutions which cost six million dollars per unit was not what the voters were promised. The moving ahead with the controversial Cheddi Jagan International Airport Expansion Project was not expected. The PPP’s bridge across the Demerara River is being kept. In fact, there is not a single PSIP project which has been announced which was not part of the PPP’s plans.
The APNU +AFC coalition promised that VAT would be reduced, because it was a burden that was making life difficult for consumers. It took two years for APNU to reduce the VAT by a mere 2%. There have been no reductions in prices. The decrease has not resulted in a reduction in the cost of living.
APNU+AFC bemoaned the lack of security. Citizens’ security has not improved for the better under the new government.
The coalition promised greater transparency. It started out on a good note by making available the contracts signed under the PPPC. It has been less forthcoming about some of its own dealings. Controversy over a number of deals has tarred the coalition’s record.
What has changed in health procurement? What has changed in terms of security? Teachers, policemen and nurses are not enjoying a substantial increase in wages. The snail-pace housing programme of the new government is not much different to the options which the PPPC had been providing.
Local democracy is being stymied by the failure to appoint a local government commission. Public works have a poor implementation ration, as was signified in the half –yearly report of the Ministry of Finance. The economy is sluggish, depending mainly on gold. The commercial sector – the one which can generate the most jobs – is declining. Businesses are downsizing, because there are more illegal sellers than legitimate businesses, and nothing is being done about this. Squatting is on the increase. The reduction of electricity losses has not improved appreciably.
There is no incentive for the government to do better, because people are not voting on the basis of performance. They are voting along the lines of traditional loyalties, and so the government is under no pressure to force itself to correct its mistakes.
Guyanese did not vote for political, economic and social change. They voted for exchange. This is what they have gotten.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News