While the APNU+AFC outreach circus continues, people’s problems are totally neglected

May 31, 2019 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,

Flood affected several communities this past week in Guyana. Mahdia and Black Bush Polder, from two different ends of Guyana, were the most affected areas. One week after the floods began, thankfully, there is encouraging news that flood waters are receding. As these communities struggle against floods, the people in Region 1 are affected by other kinds of problems, such as a serious fuel shortage.
While APNU+AFC, soon after the No-Confidence Motion, announced they were bringing the government and solutions to the people, they have studiously stayed far away from problem areas, particularly PPP-supporting areas. This week, their outreach circus reached Region 2, where the main event was the Prime Minister visiting a school and telling the children that the President and the Prime Minister will ensure free university education, but not now, only if the people re-elect them.
As the outreach circus continues to roll out, communities across Guyana face total neglect, with the level of neglect clearly linked to political considerations. Traditional PPP-supporting communities, receive no help. For traditionally PNC-supported communities, there is some acknowledgement and a pretence of being supportive, but in the end, little to nothing is done.
No matter what the challenge, the fervour and the intensity of APNU+AFC in communities with problems never match the energy and the expense like we witnessed with the recent Buju Banton charade. While Black Bush Polder might not have reasonably expected anything from APNU+AFC because of their policy of political discrimination, the people of Mahdia are bewildered that those in government had the time and money for free ticket distribution for the Buju show, but showed only fleeting, meaningless concerns for their struggles.
Forty-eight hours after the first report of flooding in Mahdia, several senior Ministers showed up in that town and left without any meaningful action. In fact, those officials who visited Mahdia, fleetingly leaving their air-conditioned, plush offices in Georgetown, proceeded to blame the residents of Mahdia – too many Mahdia residents were living too close to the rivers and creeks.
But, at least, the APNU+AFC Ministers showed up to provide some moral support, showed up with many empty promises. The residents know too well not to expect much. Mahdia had the APNU+AFC presence, but no one distributed much-required funds and no one stayed. Buju was about to land and everyone had to be at the National Stadium.
In the meantime, one week after flood first began in Black Bush Polder, no Minister or Government official has showed up. The President and the Prime Minister show no sign they are even aware of any flooding in Black Bush Polder. The Minister of Agriculture went for a “quickie” visit to West Berbice to “gaff” with a few residents, but Black Bush Polder must have been too far away for him to even bother. The Minister of Public Infrastructure who went to Mahdia did not find it possible or necessary to even send a word of assurance to the residents in Black Bush Polder.
Even as the Regional officials struggle to provide support to the farmers and residents in Black Bush Polder, the Minister of Communities had more important business to attend to, although no one knows exactly what he busied himself with.
While the residents in Black Bush Polder struggle against the flood, with health hazards mounting and their livelihood threatened, the people of Region 1 are also facing a crisis. Cost of living has skyrocketed because of the serious fuel shortage. With the mounting Venezuelan crisis, fuel supply is now one of the many rising threats facing Region 1.
Not a single Minister or any other senior APNU+AFC official has showed up, even though this has been going on for several months.
A Minister did show up in Mabaruma, Region 1 for the Independence Flag-Raising ceremony. The ceremony was held in the name of the RDC, but the RDC was excluded, as the occasion was used for a political speech. The speaker never addressed the fuel problem or any of the other Venezuelan-related challenges in Region 1, totally ignoring it. The Region has appealed for government’s intervention. Thus far, there is no indication that the APNU+AFC administration is acknowledging the crisis in Region 1 or care even a little bit about the problems Region1 is facing.
The truth is that APNU+AFC is neglecting or is incapable of addressing real problems that people face. The outreaches have been condemned by those people who bothered to attend, but who have found to their great chagrin, nothing is being done to help them. APNU+AFC claims cohesion and unity are priority for their governance. In fact, they appointed a Minister specifically to be in charge of social cohesion. Yet, if one thing is clear, in the more than four years of APNU+AFC stewardship, it is that Guyana is deliberately being polarized.
Dr. Leslie Ramsammy

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