HAPPY INDEPENDENCE, GUYANA!

May 26, 2019 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

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The Alliance For Change wishes all of Guyana a happy 53rd Independence Anniversary. We are very proud of the strides Guyana has made in just the last four years, and we can truly say, “Guyana comin’ back!”
Over the past few weeks we have been laying out just a few of the accomplishments that this APNU+AFC Coalition Government has chalked up since the historic general elections of May 11, 2015. We have literally placed Guyana on the world map. This Government now has an obligation to every single Guyanese to make sure that we continue to earn the respect we now receive from current and would-be foreign investors, from technical advisory bodies, regulatory bodies, financial organizations and from Guyanese who have done well in their careers and wish to come back home to contribute.
We hope that you took the opportunity to participate in the Guyana Carnival and the splendid events organised by our local promoters. Celebrations are going on among Guyanese all over the world. Our friends in Brooklyn, New York tell us that their Guyana Independence Celebration Committee will host the annual New York celebrations on Sunday June 2 in Brooklyn, under the theme: “Fan The Flame of Guyanese Patriotism”.
They expect to fete thousands of Guyanese from the New York City tri-state area and throughout North America as they flock Brooklyn for the parades, cultural events and parties. This outpouring of support expands with each passing year, and today it is the second largest Caribbean celebration in New York City, after the Labor Day Parade.
On a more serious note, the AFC is very proud of the developmental works that the APNU+AFC Coalition Government has done in just four years. Everything that has been accomplished has transformed the lives of people. The quality of life for the working man has improved with increases in the salaries of public servants and employees in the private sector, with better health care facilities and some essential services like water being modernized and expanded.
Education remains priority Number 1 and much better facilities have been implemented to get more of our children easy access to their education, and to the services such as the Internet to aid the learning processes. The rebuilding of the nation’s infrastructure continues with better roads and bridges, and we are close to eradicating the dread of floods every time the rain falls. We’re not quite there as yet but this is a short-term goal.
Today, the rights of citizens are respected and honoured with improved and assured access to the justice system. The capital city remains a work in progress and we expect that all of the players holding some responsibility, even if it is a moral one, to keep our city cleaned, zoned, disciplined and orderly, will get on the train so that our Garden City could be restored, i.e. including the City Hall. The Promenade Gardens is certainly getting ready to play their part.
This Government has named and is still developing new townships; we have brought to our people living in hinterland and outlying regions access to information with at least 6 new regional radio stations. We now live in a safer, democratic country where the rights of citizens are respected and upheld, and the media are free to function without interference or intimidation.
The Coalition Government has worked tirelessly since 2015 to prepare Guyana for our big Transformation, our Economic Renaissance with a whole new sector – Oil and Gas, and while we maneuver ourselves into position with a slew of new legislation and regulations, agencies and advanced international technical support, we are simultaneously staging a robust defence of our territorial borders.
Under the leadership of President David Granger and Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, Guyana’s positive reputation and image have been restored on the regional and international stages.
The AFC is pleased and satisfied with the work of its ministers in Government and with the government as a whole. The party acknowledges that there is much more work to be done to achieve the goal we are aiming for, that is to give all Guyanese “the Good Life”. This promise we intend to keep despite all the odds, despite every barrier that the unrelenting, unreasonable and vicious opposition throws up, despite limited financial resources, despite the threats by our neighbor to the west, Venezuela.
Here we have to express our gratitude to the entire Caribbean Community for standing with us in this our time of need.
There is so much work still left to be done, but we can take comfort in the hope that our people are really benefitting from what this Government has done so far, so much so that you are willing to see it through. We would like our young citizens who had no previous experience of a good, caring Government to experience it. We would like them to continue to have faith and hope in a forward, modern nation that designs its programmes for their benefit, for their growth.
We know for sure that President David Granger would run again for the Presidency since he is now healthy, fit and ready to campaign. The AFC expects to hold its congress soon to make the very important decisions on our way forward.
Nevertheless, we all have one very clear objective, i.e. to prevent the rampaging, corrupt PPP from taking up where it left off in 2015, prevent it from coming back to destroy what has been built up, to run this nation back into the ground with high levels of corruption, nepotism and pillaging of the State’s resources.
So, until we begin to reap the real benefits from our Oil and Gas sector, Guyana will continue to struggle to earn enough money to keep this ship of state from failure. In May 2015, we were way past the edge of becoming a failed economy, but the Coalition pulled us back.
Guyana is indeed comin’ back!

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