Time to end the Political Charade: Guyana’s 2026 Budget exposes bankruptcy of entire system

Jan 30, 2026 Letters

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Dear Editor,

The beat goes on. The theatrics we are forced to witness are tragic and depressing. PPP/C Minister of Finance, Ashni Singh releases a budget that he claims is firmly anchored in President Ali’s “people-centered vision” for Guyana. In reality, it was an assault on the most vulnerable sectors of our society. Let us take just one example, the elderly. They were promised during the PPP’s election campaign that the pension would be raised to $60,000 and that they would receive an annual transportation allowance of $50,000.

Even this was inadequate. Perhaps more heartbreaking than the increasing numbers of children begging on our streets is the increasing numbers of elderly. While speaking of the PPP’s commitment to deliver on their promises, Minister Singh’s budget raised the old age pension from $41,000 to $46,000, and in place of the promised annual transportation allowance of $50,000, pensioners were awarded $20,000. The idea that this amount could help the elderly with transportation costs for a year is downright dishonest and shameful.

We know that in the current context, ‘people-centered’ is just a buzz word, like ‘people’s empowerment’, a false promise, a broken dream, used to pacify and create false hope. You only have to walk the streets of our cities, towns and communities to know that the masses of Guyanese people are not benefitting from the wealth of this nation. The despair is tangible. The areas that the poor inhabit are so filthy and dilapidated as to be uninhabitable and yet, they are inhabited by those for whom every day has become a fight for their very survival at the margins of this resource-rich country. They watch on as the rich get richer and they get poorer.

Nonetheless, despite years of broken promises, the people who have not yet seen through this charade were waiting on this budget in anticipation of some relief from the cruel poverty and hardship that characterises their existence, and once again they were bitterly disappointed. I was not anticipating any change from the current status quo, because along with the members of Organisation for the Victory of the People (OVP), and our many supporters, we know what the people who are still participating in this fraudulent system need to understand once and for all. There can be no people-centered budget or development and no relief from persistent poverty within the framework of a neo-liberal capitalist economy.

But the game will go on. Those people who still believe in the myths they are being fed will now be comforted by the barrage of criticism of this budget from APNU, Forward Guyana and WIN. This is the charade that constitutes one of the biggest cons ever thrust upon humanity – Western liberal-parliamentary democracy. I have called liberal democracy a con for decades. I am pleased to say that what was once seen as an extreme position is now a commonly accepted and proven position for people all over the world as we witness the lifting of Western democracy’s mask. The illusion, deception and hypocrisy is laid bare. More people than ever before can see that the emperor is naked. Just a few days ago, the Canadian High Commissioner to Guyana took it upon himself to lecture us on the tenets of this democratic system, while his own prime minister told the gathering at Davos that they knew the international rules-based order was a lie but went along with it while it benefitted them.

Sadly, in Guyana, the charade continues. The sole job of the parties in opposition is to criticise the party in government. Even if the government does something that benefits the people, the opposition must and will find a way to criticize it. Reason for that is because the system of so-called democracy that we adhere to necessitates that politicians put their party above the nation. Partisan politics is tribal, and fragments rather that unifies. The opposition parties are allowed to continually criticise and condemn without ever having to explain what policy shifts they would make in order to bring about transformational change. This is because none of them can bring about meaningful change since they have all succumbed to the neo-colonial arrangement, that is, they take their direction from the centers of Western capitalism and White supremacy. This means that they are bound to take as a given neo-liberal capitalist ideology and policies.

They cannot break out of this box. To do so they would have to challenge their foreign masters and what has been imposed on us since President Hoyte took office and accepted the Washington consensus. As we can see, all the opposition parties are cozy with the US/UK/EU and Canadian diplomats. They can talk all they like while in opposition, they can promise us the earth. They can shout from the rooftops about renegotiating lopsided oil and gas contracts, but when they take office, they will toe the line because they know the deal they made. They know that their very election, or should I say selection to political office depends on them staying in line.

Truth be told, elections change nothing. Did you ever see a politician who did not promise the people everything under the sun? What they never tell us is how they are going to make their promises a reality. That’s because to improve the lives of every Guyanese they would need to do what none of them are willing to do. They will have to tear down the plantation structures and stop taking orders from their foreign masters – the ones they call their allies and friends. The ones who plunder our resources and leave our children hungry. They are all afraid to break out of this box they have imprisoned themselves in. They lack the courage to break free. And if we do not break free, as the people of Burkina Faso and the Sahel region have under the leadership of Captain Ibrahim Traoré, there can be no solution to the problems Guyana faces.

Despite Minister Ashni Singh’s extensive quoting of global and national statistics and a PhD in finance, he was unable to tell us the plain truth, that the economic model being pursued by this government and agreed to by all the opposition parties is actually designed to keep us in a state of persistent poverty and dependency, and can never serve the needs of the people. Let Captain Ibrahim Traoré explain it clearly because he has the courage to do so:

“They say we are poor, but we are rich. Rich in gold, in people, in pride. What we lack is freedom from foreign chains…we came to break the chains…we will not tremble, we will face it, we will fight for true independence…this is the language of revolution”

We need to wake up and fight our real enemies rather than allowing ourselves to be pulled into the constant, useless bickering between the neo-colonial politicians and political parties. The real enemies are the ones that control the parameters within which the PPP, APNU, Forward Guyana and WIN operate. They are the ones who ensure that we never take control of our own wealth and resources.  We must break free, and to do so we would have to join the growing number of nations worldwide who are saying no more to US/UK and EU hegemony.

Western so-called democracy is designed to deceive the people; to make them feel they are in control and have a choice. In reality, elections are just an exchange of parties to manage the same old failed system. This system ensures that 16 wealthy families in Guyana (the 1%) own and control every sector of our economy. These wealthy elites fund the two big parties, or as we saw in 2025, one of those families throws up a candidate and funds itself. None of them can solve the problems we face.

I am tired of hearing the opposition parties talk about corruption as if this is Guyana’s only problem. That is as far as they can go. Of course, there is massive corruption – it is a given in a country where all the parties have sold out our sovereignty and independence and continue to allow the plunder of our resources. Such a system must be riddled with corruption. None of our politicians, be they in government or in opposition, are even equipped ideologically to fully understand the issues at hand. They will call OVP ‘radical’ without even knowing that the word ‘radical’ comes from the Latin word ‘radix’ simply meaning to get to the root of the problem, something none of them have the courage to articulate. OVP does not take part in political theatrics and will never play politricks for the sake of power.

To even run in the elections, you need big money and OVP can’t be bought. Our only resource is the people. Real change can only happen when the people realise that changing faces in high places is not enough. The system itself is a fraud, and we have to dismantle it if we are to achieve economic justice, self-determination and true independence in our lifetime.  Whoever is elected – PPP, APNU, Forward Guyana or WIN will be in office, but not in power. The deal has been done. Guyana is a captured state. The US/UK and EU call the shots. Like Ibrahim Traoré, we oppose their continued domination of our political system and economy. We speak the language of revolution because we know that nothing less than revolution can liberate Guyana.  As Forbes Burnham said: “We must be masters in our own country”.

Regards,
Gerald A. Perreira
Chairman
Organisation for the Victory of the People (OVP)

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• Ashni Singh, bankruptcy, Gerald Perreira, Letters, Political Charade, PPPC

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