Dear Editor,
First of all I want to congratulate the coalition (APNU + AFC) on its victory in the 2015 General and Regional Elections. It can be said that with free and fair elections, history has repeated itself. The PPP won a plurality of votes in the 2011 elections and became a minority government, and later was forced to call fresh elections in the face of a no-confidence motion.
The new government must work to enhance the role of the law enforcement agencies and the state and civil society, and build greater trust between institutions.
The major racial groups must find a means of co-operation, including power-sharing. However, this must not become a recipe for opportunism, vacillation and capitulation with some from the PPP.
Personally, I would like to see Guyana once more as the breadbasket of the Caribbean, given our endowment of extensive and rich agricultural lands. The previous government did not use its commonsense to make the expansion of the agricultural sector one of the main planks of its development strategy.
Agriculture has always been the backbone of any country, and as an Essequibian, I would like to see the revival of the rice industry.
The PPP government has neglected the rice industry and the rice farmers of this region for too long; the coalition government has an opportunity now to rebuild the industry and prove to the rice farmers that the previous government had no interest in their welfare.
The coalition must take a dispassionate look at the tendering system of contracts to party hacks in this region; thousands of acres of arable agricultural lands were given away in the Red Lock area to party friends and family that are now idle while the ordinary young men and women do not have one square inch.
Most, if not all, the young men and women in this region are working or renting lands from their parents or other farmers; the coalition must review these deals to ensure that they were transparent. I therefore believe that the new government should struggle not only to retain its assets, but also to expand them − indeed, do not deny Essequibians that right! There are many things which will need fixing in this region, but it will take time, although with prudent management it can be done.
I know that the coalition government will effect a miraculous achievement in the face of inheriting a wrecked economy and a wrecked physical infrastructure.
Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Khan
