This is a time for action

Jan 13, 2019 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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In an address to the National Assembly on 10th June 2015, President David Granger iterated the ideal of making Guyana-‘One Nation’. The President said: “Your Government recognises today that our fore-parents came from four continents. We, their heirs and successors, resolve to work together to pursue the ideal of making Guyana ‘One Nation.’ We must, in so doing, combine our efforts, concentrate our energy and endeavour to defeat the real enemies of our people – crime, disease, ignorance and poverty.
Your Government acknowledges the democratically-expressed will of the people of this great country as expressed in the results of the recent general and regional elections. We are guided by a ‘One Nation’ policy that will bring enormous benefits to Guyana. We envisage the elimination of one-party domination of the government; the enhancement of local, municipal and parliamentary democracy; the elimination of ethnic insecurity; the expansion of economic enterprise; the enrichment of cultural life and the deepening of national consciousness.”
Recent events in the National Assembly demand that we reflect on the President’s message. We have entered an election season and A Partnership for National Unity – APNU – must muster the resolve to continue to fight for the people of this country.
It is evident, that the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) wants to take us back to the dark days of one-party rule, poor governance, corruption and nepotism. However, the advent of coalition politics has shown the people of Guyana that shared governance is the way of the future.
Evidence has shown that the race-based politics and policies of the past was a roadblock to social cohesion and making Guyana ‘One Nation.’ Guyana, with all of its resources, would not reach its true potential and embrace modernity if the old ways of doing business was allowed to continue.
This partnership (APNU) and the 2015 general and regional elections gave the nation a chance to hit the reset button, and the leaders a new pallet on which to promote policies and programs designed to advance the interest of all the people of Guyana.
The PPP ruled Guyana for more than two decades and during that time they proved that they were incapable of governing in the interest of all the people. During its 23 years in office, the PPP Government established an unenviable record of criminality, corruption, human rights abuse, abuse of power, obstruction of justice and incompetence.
Thankfully, most Guyanese are committed to working towards a unified Guyana. Thankfully, the APNU+AFC coalition has been making every effort and is committed to working towards a unified Guyana. The Coalition, over the past three years, has worked assiduously to ensure that Guyanese have a better understanding and appreciation of each other, so as to forge consensus and ultimately, a united and developed Guyana.
In 2015, we made several promises to the nation and we have kept and continue to keep those promises.
The list of accomplishments of this administration will take several columns to document. What is worthy of note, however, is that we continue – despite the disinformation, fake news and the doom and gloom messages from the sidelines – to serve all the people of Guyana.
We must now fan-out in our communities, roll up our sleeves and get to work. This is no time for hand-wringing and what-ifs, this is a time for action. The APNU+AFC coalition is the best organised and largest mass -based political formation in Guyana. We must use our reach and mobilize our resources. The people of Guyana are with us. They have seen what we have accomplished in just three short years, we must not let the PPP distort the narrative of a good life, with empty platitudes and their offering of gloom and doom.
In 2015, the Guyanese people at general and regional elections expressed a vote of no-confidence in the PPP. Since that time the PPP has engaged in a strategy of non-cooperation and outright sabotage of the APNU+AFC government.
The reason for this course of action by the PPP, led by its Maximum Leader and sole spokesperson – Bharrat Jagdeo, is simple. The PPP is trapped in the politics of the past. The PPP still believes in ‘one-party’ government, even though over four decades of that style of governance show that it is the wrong model for Guyana.
The PPP still believes in the ‘winner-takes-all’ political culture, even though the evidence shows that culture is dangerously dysfunctional and harmful to our national development. Also, the PPP wants to get control of the emerging oil and gas sector. We cannot allow that to happen.
In his address to the 19th Biennial Congress of his Party (the PNC); President Granger said that the mission… was to enable all Guyanese to enjoy ‘a good life’ which they deserve as citizens of an independent state. He said, “The PNCR and its coalition partners in government…. face several challenges. Thankfully we are better together than asunder”. He said that the PNCR together with its partners will lead by example.
“Our parties won the support of the majority of the population. We have a duty to fulfil our mandate to preserve Guyana as the land of beautiful people and bountiful resources.”
It is now a time for action; a time to hold the line of battle comrades.

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