This is the future we seek – a united Guyana

Mar 03, 2019 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

---

That Bharrat Jagdeo chose to disrespect a sitting President and has refused (via press conference) to meet with David Granger to discuss matters of national importance, is highly irregular, immature and churlish behaviour by a former President. It is highly irresponsible behaviour for the leader of a party that represents a significant percentage of the population, to refuse to meet with the head of state, especially at a time in our country’s history when sober and mature leadership is demanded.
Over the last forty-two months, the behaviour of this former President has harmed rather than helped the Republic. Instead of advocating for a one-nation policy; working to eradicate ethnic rivalries, fear and distrust. This leader of the PPP has chosen to do the opposite. In contrast, David Granger and the Coalition have managed to govern peacefully by embracing social cohesion and political inclusivity.
Make no mistake, the weekly ranting of Bharrat Jagdeo is intended to drown out the symphony of progress that is taking place in every region of Guyana. Jagdeo is hell-bent on regaining political power so that he can continue where he and the PPP left off – creating a divided nation.
While in office the PPP dragged this country to the pit of the human development index. The record rates of arson, armed robbery, murders, suicides, road fatalities, illiteracy, unemployment, trafficking in persons and narcotics made Guyana a pariah state in this hemisphere. The PPP, worse still, divided our nation. It corrupted our nation. It offered favours to its favourites and inflicted unbearable burdens on the masses of housewives, public servants, working people, paddy-farmers, fisher-folk and students.
By their daily criticism of everything that is done by the Coalition government and its leaders, the PPP’s strategy is to stoke fear, doubt and hopelessness in the minds of the people. They are hoping that the people will forget their 30 years of misrule, corruption, nepotism, favouritism and hate. They are hoping that their gloom and doom message, will blind the gullible to the steady progress that has been made and continue to be made under this government.
APNU+AFC has a proud record in office that must be shared more widely and boasted of more frequently. While in opposition, the parties made several promises and they have kept those promises. They promised that they would hold local government elections – something the PPP deprived Guyanese of for more than two decades. They have since held two local government elections in just 3 years.
They promised that they would increase the wages of public servants who were suffering with starvation wages under the PPP. In just three years, the minimum wage has rapidly increased by nearly 52 percent from $39,570, in 2015, to $64,000, in 2018. It took the PPP administration nine years to move the minimum wage by a similar percentage, or from $26,070, in 2006 to $39,570, in 2015.
The Minister of Finance has assured that all government workers can expect salary increases going forward, especially in 2019 and 2020. The APNU+AFC coalition promised to increase old age pension and they did; from the paltry sum of $13,125 – today it is over $20,000.
APNU+AFC reduced the PPP-imposed VAT from 16% to 14%. The Coalition promised a reduction of the Berbice Bridge toll. On January 1, 2016, the toll was reduced from $2200 to $1900 for passenger cars and buses, along with a 10 percent reduction for all other classes of vehicles.
APNU+AFC restored decency and cleanliness to our capital city; today Georgetown is once again a Garden City. The promised establishment of Passport Offices in Berbice, Linden and Essequibo are a reality. Gone are the long lines and crowds that gathered daily outside the passport office in Georgetown.
As mandated by the Constitution and promised in our manifesto, the Coalition government established the Public Procurement Commission and operationalised the Local Government Commission. Implementation of an amended Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act, was yet another promise made and kept. Today Guyana has been removed from the European Union’s money-laundering blacklist, due to aggressive anti-corruption campaigns.
The government continues to address the crime situation in Guyana and recent figures from the Guyana Police Force show that serious crime continues to be on the decrease.
While in government, PPP failed to encourage the greater use of solar and other renewable forms of energy. APNU+AFC promised to pursue renewables and they have. Mabaruma now has a $264M 400-kilowatt solar farm. Other solar farms are slated for Lethem in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo); Mahdia in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) and Bartica in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni). These farms are anticipated to generate 800,400, and 1.5 kilowatts of electricity respectively. A wind farm is also in the pipeline.
APNU+AFC promised Guyanese a good life and they continue to deliver on that promise. The establishment of the four new capital towns have served to decentralise public service to resident of the Regions where those towns are located.
APNU+AFC promised to increase access to reliable potable water. Over the last three years thousands of residents are able to access potable water in their homes, many of them for the first time.
Many areas have benefited from improved street lighting. Over 10,000 units of the LED street lamps valued at US$1,329,984 have replaced current street lights in several areas. This is an ongoing programme that will deliver improved street lighting to all regions of Guyana.
Thousands of residents of the East Bank Berbice will soon be able to travel to their destinations with ease. APNU+AFC promised the residents that we would build a modern asphalt road and we kept that promise. The $1.2 Billion East Bank Berbice road rehabilitation project is near completion, after years of neglect by the PPP.
These are just a small sample of the numerous accomplishments that this Coalition government can be proud of.
In the words of President David Grange; “Guyanese could expect confidently, by the end of 2019, to live in a state with more secure borders; communities that are safer; an economy that is more resilient; a society that is more cohesive; public services that are more accessible and constitutional agencies and institutions which enjoy the confidence and respect of the public. This is the country, which will provide every Guyanese with a good life. This is the society at which we aim. This is the future we seek.”

---

---