Guyana in a state of political healing

Oct 30, 2021 Letters

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Dear Editor,

Dr. Cheddi Jagan’s life stands as a remarkable example of what Guyanese can achieve given the opportunity. While applicable for all, his achievements are so much more meaningful and relevant to sugar workers because he himself arose out of the sugar belt. There is a president, a great leader, a great person in all sugar workers, in all Guyanese. We just need to overcome, to set aside all the negatives and distractions of everyday life, to work diligently at whatever talent we have, to become the great person that we are. As the major influencer in the economy, responsibility automatically falls on government to create the conditions necessary for transforming us into being the best that we can be. Parents, teachers stand as the other significant influencers in the type of adults we become. The majority of parents have themselves been failed by society, by their parents, their teachers, most significantly through the perpetuation of negative stereotypes, where diligent guidance would have been most effective. This is in itself an ever-present challenge which requires more dedication by parents, as many do not take the time to understand their children and become better parents.
This said, we once again observe the PNC/R in search for leadership. This is relevant because they have also been instrumental in shaping the fortunes of Guyanese, in addition to who we are as individuals, as a people. To progress, to move forward, to develop as a people, as a nation, it is important that we evaluate available information objectively and make rational, personally beneficial decisions. Also important is that we correctly evaluate the probability of a likelihood of the PNC/R ever attaining office again within the context of our entire experience of the PNC/R in government, during its first 28 years, and its most recent term in office.
The litany of disasters in the last term alone have been truncated into the following: The PNC/R within its umbrella of APNU-AFC coalition effectively disemboweled the lives of many of its very own supporters immediately upon entry into office in 2015 with the chaotic, unplanned removal of many of the vendors in the Stabroek Market area. This was done without much, if any consultations, and left many of these vendors economically strangled as they struggled with their lost incomes to maintain their families. Knowing well that public servants, another bastion of political support for the PNC/R, were very much in need of a review of their incomes and salary structures, the PNC/R-led administration effectively stymied efforts of public service unions, most notably the teachers’ union, scuttling the move to arbitration by an independent review panel which would have effectively granted a substantial and long overdue upgrade based on prevailing information. This has actively cramped the welfare of teachers and their families, and other public servants and their families also, since decisions of the arbitration panel on teachers’ salaries may well have been used to advice on incomes in the rest of the public service.
The PNC/R/APNU-AFC policy in the sugar industry where it effectively denied/delayed severance payments to retrenched sugar workers, may be considered the height of economic incompetence in some circles, but is not something sugar workers and the Indian community will ever forget, because the government’s policy of dalliance on payment of severance benefits to sugar workers was nothing short of economic violence. For this act alone the PNC/R is unlikely ever to see itself receiving substantial support from the Indian community ever again.
The government of the last PNC/R/APNU-AFC administration signed an oil contract which made Guyanese liable for the corporation taxes of a multi-billion $US company. For the life of the company in Guyana. The PNC/R/APNU-AFC administration has given away a significant portion of the money which Guyana was supposed to be receiving from its oil wealth, the money which could fund higher incomes, modernise our schools, university, hospitals, ministries and other public infrastructure, to the oil company in the contract. And we can all imagine that this was not given freely.
Over the period of its administration effectively ended July 2020, the PNC/R/APNU-AFC destroyed G$111 billion in financial wealth, taking its deposits in the central bank and commercial banking system from G$78.8 billion in June 2015 to -G$31.7 billion at the end of July 2020. This could easily be claimed as deficit spending, or invested in foreign securities. But we fail to see the benefit of this exercise, which, unless otherwise clarified, effectively sent that G$111 billion into an economic black hole.
Not to be outdone, a careful review of articles in the news from March 02, 2020 to August 02, 2020 will show that there is ample evidence which links the PNC/R to attempts by elements within the Guyana Elections Commission to overturn the results of the March 2020 elections. More valuable than all other elements of our democracy, the PNC/R were actively involved, very probably orchestrated the entire episode at GECOM aimed at subverting our right to choose our own government. Therefore, as the PNC/R seeks out new leadership, we ask “to what purpose”?
Guyana has now entered a stage of political healing where many PNC/R supporters, myself included though not any more, recognise that they were misled on the one hand, and the PPP have come to recognise that there are many Guyanese who, as much as they disagree with the policies of the PPP, would never consider dictatorship as a better alternative. Governments which develop a track record for satisfying their populations are very rarely challenged successfully at democratically held elections. The PPP may consider it opportune to extend an olive branch to so many disgruntled Guyanese, chief among these being public servants, whether it be through responding to the present wage crisis via negotiation, arbitration or unilaterally. Also, coordinating with the private sector to create investment and jobs across the regions, or the address of pensions, and benefits for the under-represented/under-served groups. The challenges are not insurmountable, and could best be addressed by sharing job creation as a priority with income reform in the public service. An increase was catered for in the budgets for both last year and the current. Public servants would be happy to receive these.

Yours faithfully,
Craig Sylvester

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