Dear Editor,
I was a witness to the government propaganda blitz around Parliament Building on Wednesday afternoon when public officers were ordered to leave their posts to support the Budget. PPP/C MP’s, presidential advisors – among whom was a Bishop – and the OP Press Officer were all there in full cry, never mind the involvement in inappropriate transactions of some and their super salaries.
My surprise came that very evening, when I turned to the Channel 9‘s ‘Nation Watch’ where we learnt that the President had agreed to raise the Old Age Pension to $10,000 monthly. The naïvety of some folks came to the fore when the lines were opened; the first caller praised the President noting that he had a wife, etc. There was not one word to congratulate the leader of the opposition, Brigadier (rtd) David Granger and his team for extracting that same morning the pension increase from the government – only possible because of the extant dispensation. If from the outset the Head of State had intervened, I could agree with the encomiums lavished on him by this caller, but for me the Leader of the Opposition and his team who met with the President must be given full credit for this movement to ease the burden on a vulnerable section of society.
What the majority wish to see coming from the President and Cabinet is movement on the bigger issues: ending the radio monopoly now, and ending state control over NCN and Chronicle content; a correction to the unjust and inadequate allocation of funds to the regions that are not PPP dominated, including the capital city; a full revelation of all NICIL transactions; the super salaries at GPL, GuySuCo et al addressed, so that those public servants called out on Wednesday can have a living wage and better conditions; an end to the patently corrupt contracts; the lotto largesse properly accounted for; an end to all these contract workers all over the place, many doing work that is substandard; the Berbice River Bridge toll cut by more than half; and confidence in the security forces restored by removing the political hammer and replacing this with an aura of professionalism. These are mere examples.
Yours faithfully,
Hamilton Green
Mayor