Guyanese are being hobbled from achieving greater things by the policies of the PPP

Mar 10, 2025 Letters

---

Dear Editor

Those who read Roots cannot forget when Kunta Kinte’s slave catchers cut off half of his foot to keep him from trying to get away again.  This for me places the PPP’s policies for Guyanese over the years into context. The following seeks to provide clarity on the comparison of the condition of Guyana’s poor and those in a state of insufficiency with that of Kunta Kinte, that we are being hobbled from achieving greater things by the policies of the PPP.

The PPP administration its $100,000 grant to mothers who give birth to children stands as an affront to Guyana’s many underprivileged children who continue daily under the burden of inadequate meals, proper clothes, poor education and often unavailable textbooks which are supposed to be distributed free by the Ministry of Education. This strikes a very low chord with these children.  Because that’s exactly who the PPP administration is hitting at with the grant to birthing mothers.  No money for existing, stressed out and in-need children. The PPP’s joke on Guyana’s children.

With the exception of pockets of well-to-do affluent people living in ‘old money’ areas or the new burgeoning ‘villes’ that are popping up as monied investors make their play in the real estate market, the 46% poverty rate has a face for all to see. But the PPP administration has found its master plaster for underprivileged, many of whom it helped impoverish with its policy of arrested development through its failed education system, maintaining GUYSUCO as a voting farm, and frustrating wages growth by strangling public sector wages, not to mention its (until recently) dismissive attitude to the rice and fisheries sectors along with the other sectors which continue to underperform as a consequence of ad hoc and inconsequential government policy.  Yes. Giving $100,000 for mothers giving birth to children plus its other cheap-skate budget measures will address poverty. Plus, its almost certain yet to be announced $100,000- or $200,000 per person grant to buy votes for the upcoming elections is sure to be a big boon, with much if not all of these amounts going to retiring debts, leaving the condition of the poor unchanged.  This to continue giving the oil companies your money.

This year again about half of the nation’s children writing exams at both the NGSA and CSEC will very likely underperform, with those in the latter category leaving school without much hope or opportunity for a proper job. Why? Because the Ministry of Education has done absolutely nothing to remedy the numerous problems which plague the delivery of education in our nation’s schools. This itself being a policy of keeping the underprivileged in their unhappy condition over the years.

What is clear is that the PPP has no intention of actively addressing poverty and raising the welfare and income earning opportunities of the many unfortunate Guyanese, which it can do by simply developing poverty alleviation programs aimed at stamping out poverty and putting Guyanese families and their children on an even keel.

For example, the DNC in its 2025 proposal spelt out numerous measures to address poverty.  First among these is a proposal to establish a poverty line for individual persons, children, dependents. Our initial proposal is a $60,000-$100,000 mth poverty line (varies by location, status of individual, excludes children) whereby persons earning less than these amounts, for example $60,000, can apply for and receive $40,000 if $100,000 is designated as the poverty line for the area in which they are living. All of these being tentative measures, we here also propose $40,000/mth for adult dependents, $10,000/mth per child under 10 years of age, $20,000/child between 10 and 18 years of age.  All families have to do is show cause.

We also intend to overhaul the education system completely through a variety of metrics, the first being to standardize class size and design of all nursery, primary and secondary schools, with Queen’s College as our basic model for secondary schools.  Secondly, the salaries of all categories of teachers from nursery to secondary will be restructured to ensure that all teachers take home a salary they can live comfortably on.  They will also be reinforced with what we propose as our motto for the Ministry of Education – No Child Left Behind. Further, the Ministry will hold strategic sessions with all categories of teachers to understand their problems and challenges and fix these to deliver on our motto.  We also propose to have all schools with adequate a large enough playground, sports and TVET facilities.

We have also proposed allocating between two and ten percent of our budget towards financing new businesses across Guyana, creating new jobs, generating higher incomes and output. The DNC will be a learning institution.  We have also developed a host of other measures (available at https://dncgy.com/the-dncs-elections-2025-proposals-for-guyanese/) aimed at kick-starting our non-oil economy with a view to ensuring that all Guyanese have the opportunity to get involved in business and generate higher incomes for themselves and their families.

If the Democratic National Congress can develop and implement these policies, why hasn’t the government of the PPP done this over the years? My answer is that the reason is in their behavior: They aren’t interested, and they don’t care about addressing the debilitating condition of underprivileged families and their children.  Yet the PPP is happy to fork over US$billions of our money to the oil companies every year. Guyanese are urged to let 2025 be a year of great change, a new beginning for Guyana, for us All.  Capable Guyanese are urged to step forward to lead us into a better, brighter, prosperous future we can achieve with good government.

Yours Faithfully,

Craig Sylvester,

Party Leader, DNC.

 

---

---