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To the next decade
Kaieteur News – It is a new start for Guyana, with a new term of government about to begin, and a new opposition leader set to take his place before the watchful eyes of a nation. It is a nation that doesn’t have the clearest vision, nor the fullest grasp, as yet about what all that is happening means. Of one thing there is certainty at this paper, we cannot go on as before. The opposite must take hold and drive us forward for the next five years and beyond.
President Irfaan Ali must lead from the front, which we say with every good wish in mind. But the president and his government are only as good as the welfare of Guyanese testify, as their happiness speaks about how he manages the challenges and choices that are arrayed before him. The worst thing that the returning president and his even stronger government can do is to forget the mistakes of the past, and bulldoze ahead, as if the sentiments of the electorate mean nothing. Many voters stayed away from the polls, and there is a message for president, cabinet, and those who make policies and decisions in the PPPC Government. It is of little relevance whether it was a PPPC, or APNU, or an AFC, supporter, who turned his or her back on voting when the chance came on September 1st. What should have the deepest meaning for President Ali is that a Guyanese voter, too many thousands of Guyanese voters, shunned the polls in what was dubbed the most crucial elections in Guyana’s history.
The president and his people do not have to be geniuses to appreciate that there are disgruntled Guyanese, those who think that their hopes have been sabotaged. All Guyanese, regardless of whether they cast a ballot or didn’t, have high expectations for the next five years towards a new decade. The president and PPPC Government have a duty to deliver and, deliver they must. Not for what enhances the wellbeing of a few, but which draws and retains every Guyanese within the national net of care that instils confidence.
The air was rich with promises during the campaign, but aside from those, there is so much more that the government must make its priority. To study the oil patrimony, from its presence 120 miles offshore to the contract that ties this country and all its peoples down for decades to come. How to go about finding ways for Guyana to benefit more, but from which it draws such a paltry package of rewards. The longer that that abomination stays that way, the longer that the masses of Guyana gasping for air will remain in their grim condition. Cash grants and other measures offer only temporary relief from the constant pain that too many Guyanese live with, those below the middle of the economic ladder. In one of the richest countries per capita in the world, the Guyanese quality of life must be what the world marvels at and spoken of in the same manner as this country’s GDP, and daily oil production levels.
What good is all of that, when so many Guyanese are crying about cost of living. Cost of living concerns should be that of other citizens in other countries, and not Guyana. Guyana has been given too much, and not just oil, which makes it all the more baffling that there are so many Guyanese who cannot basic food items, have great difficulty paying their bills. We will be producing more oil soon, but life cannot be at the same trajectory, part of the same tragedy, that has been all that Guyanese know. President Ali should know that he has to do better, in that he must go beyond the rhetoric, and rise to the unique conditions of the environment. The presence of oil has made his job easier, and that continued excuses or distancing from reality will leave him looking worse than before.
Oil is the agent of change, which means that he must go after it with energy and determination. He must do more for the people, make the best of the next five years. Good luck and resist sliding back or, failing.
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The PPP has been the champion of the neoliberal economy, friendly to billionaires, privatization, to foreign investors, while simultaneously presenting themselves as the national defender of democracy. You cannot serve the interest of global finance and claim to serve the interest of the ordinary citizens, who have undernourished housing/living conditions, burdened by debt and excluded from the prosperity of the country’s resources that belongs to them. Yet, we see this explosion and hear the empty promises in endless cycles of election after election, while the citizens suffer in silence.
The silence of our citizens was demonstrated during the voting season as the country’s interest in the political hacks became evident, people refusing to engage any party by refusing to vote openly, sending the message that Guyana is hopeless and even the corrupt PPP regime cannot tend to their needs; so why bother to show up and vote. It is only those “die hards” that pit race against race and ethnicity against ethnicity who voted because they want to see their party in power.
They do not recognize that voting, even prized, is meant to hold government accountable, ensure meaningful constitution mandates and create an environment of trust and progress for its people. They wallow in the idea of “we are in power” but do not care about social welfare, clean water, sanitation, or an improved environment. Guyanese have refused to endorse a political system of trickery and deceit. Now, let us see what happens!