Dear Editor,
I have been watching patiently as our new political situation unfolds, and I have seen numerous signs that the PPP does not understand the current dispensation, starting with that first article in the media when Mr Nandlall was recorded as telling the opposition that his department will not be drafting or re-tabling any bills modified to the wishes of the now opposition controlled parliament, since he says that he is working for the executive and not the legislative part of government. Mr Nandlall is wrong as usual; he is working for the Government of Guyana which includes the parliament and the judiciary.
This 10th Parliament will sooner rather than later have to pass the 2012 budget for Mr Nandlall’s office; he should be advised that if they cut his budget in half since he perceives that he is only working for the executive part of government, they would be well within their rights to do so.
Before I go further I want to recap for the Guyanese people what happened in this country on November 28, 2011 – the PPP lost the election! Since by only obtaining 48.6% of the popular vote it meant that were it not for the ridiculous Burnham constitution which disallows the formation of coalitions after an election, the AFC and the APNU which are the natural opposing forces to the PPP, would have come together and formed the government and the PPP would have been the opposition.
And as far as snap elections are concerned, let us see President Ramotar call for snap elections when the opposition refuses to pass a budget unless it limits the funds to Gecom so that it cannot finance an election – which is their right since they are now in the majority in parliament.
Prime Minister Sam Hinds refusing to disclose the details of the Sithe Global contract and other deals is now not acceptable since the people in this country, fed up with the incompetence and corruption under the PPP government have voted 51.1 per cent to get them out so Mr Ramotar and Mr Hinds must rethink their positions, and the opposition must be less timid to use their powers and table motions in the parliament ensuring their full participation on all government boards in keeping with the will of the people and in keeping with their control of Parliament. As of this moment the opposition can demand places on the board of NCN; in fact they can demand a majority of the places on the NCN board and the chairmanship. NCN should not receive any further subventions from the budget since it creates unfair competition with the private broadcasters and violates article 149 of the constitution which demands equality.
And as far as GPL is concerned, there must be a full forensic audit of the entire company before any funds are released through the budget to prop up that incompetent and expensive drain on the people of this nation.
And the opposition should pass a motion to examine if GPL should be privatised, since the manifestos of both the AFC and the APNU calls for the privatisation of all non-productive and badly run state-owned entities which are a drain on an already heavily taxed people in this country who voted for the opposition, and therefore the privatisation of GPL.
The opposition itself seems to be too tentative in their approach to this situation, Mr Ramjattan keeps calling for an investigation for this or that; a motion should be passed in Parliament demanding it; that is the way forward. However, not a single motion has been tabled by the opposition demanding the changes they promised and on which they got elected. I am not too sure that having private talks with Mr Ramotar without disclosing to the public what exactly they are discussing and what demands are being made, is an action which will fill the Guyanese people with confidence that their effort to remove the PPP from complete control of the decision-making process is working. The opposition parties must therefore declare the specific agenda of the discussions so the public will know what they are demanding and that they are discharging their responsibility on behalf of the people.
As far as the hydro project is concerned, the opposition must maintain their position of establishing closer ties with the Brazilians. Of the three former Guianas – British, French and Dutch – our Guyana is the only one which has not committed to forming meaningful partnerships with Brazil. They have offered us an 800 megawatt hydro project which they will build if we allow them to give Manaus badly needed power from the Guyana dam. Given this situation there is potential to get hydro power without bankrupting ourselves and still collect money from Brazil for supplying power to Manaus. We must also commit to the highway to Georgetown and a deep water harbour which they have been begging us to let them have for more than 15 years. We seem to be sinking ever deeper into debt with China and India which want nothing we have except to control and exploit us and as such they cannot be meaningful partners with us. This is in contrast to the Brazilians who need our help to develop their country and are willing to finance a lot of our projects as our partners so that they can fast track development to the mutual benefit of both nations. What Mr Ramotar sees as a process of them gobbling us up, the opposition sees as a fast track to total development of Guyana. It is in their manifestos and the people have spoken; they want what they promised as well.
The visionaries in French Guiana and Suriname are to be complimented for their insights and we should re-examine what exactly the motivations of the PPP are in not taking advantage of this wonderful opportunity which has been presented to us. The Brazilians will have access to the ocean through Suriname and French Guiana, and we will be left out, poor and in the control of visionless people who have an agenda so that they can hold on to power.
Mr Ramotar‘s warning to the opposition which has a mandate from the people “that he will not allow the government to be held to ransom” is an empty threat. I agree that it is time for reconciliation and compromise, but not at the risk of leaving the PPP in government to carry on their incompetent business as usual, which the people of this country voted against.
Editor, both the Stabroek News and the Kaieteur News have made numerous suggestions of what has to be changed and what has to be investigated, eg Queens Atlantic, CLICO and NICIL, etc. I will not venture into these areas since I think that the two dailies have done a marvellous job of pointing them out and I congratulate them both, but hopefully the opposition will take more aggressive action to ensure that these enquiries are done, and they must table motions in the Parliament demanding these investigations and demand that competent international forensic auditing be hired; all contracts, all sales of public property, etc, must be examined because that was the mandate which the people of Guyana gave them on November 28, 2011.
Finally I want to join those who have condemned the dismissal of Freddie Kissoon, and I especially want to point out Mr Alfred Bhulai’s excellent letter in the SN of Feb 11captioned ‘It was not possible to do scientific research at the university of Guyana because of lack of equipment and funding,’ leaving Ms Chandarpal and the UG councillors with egg on their faces. It is my opinion that the opposition should demand positions on the UG board in keeping with their majority in parliament to protect people like Freddie who seem to be falling to a process of victimisation. This is what we fought for, and Mr Ramoutar should not insult out intelligence by telling us that his government will not be held to ransom by the intractable postures of the opposition; the PPP is the last government on this planet which should speak about intractable postures.
Yours faithfully,
Tony Vieira
