Dear Editor,
For far too many high school graduates, the chances they have are dependent on how much their parents have in the bank or whom their parents know.
The issues raised by young Renata Burnette, the young lady who has posted a video on Facebook, is just the latest representation of the systemic oppression against the poor and the working class. No matter how many subjects she has or which high school she attended or how many applications she put in or how much she does to prepare herself for the working world, she just cannot confidently say that in Guyana she has a fair deal. She does not.
But what is even more painful from her message, is that it has brought out the issues that I have heard from ordinary public servants for years in their struggle to make ends meet. But even after doing what it takes for a public servant to get her children through high school, these school leavers do not have a fighting chance to join the workforce because they have no experience. So how will someone like Renata Burnette get experience unless the society gives her a break? What are her choices?
From day one, the expectation from the youths was that the Granger administration would have taken the bull by the horns and rolled out a menu of comprehensive reforms. These reforms would have ensured that the system, both in the private and the public sector, can provide more opportunity for every high school graduate with a view to transitioning them into a job. I remember doing a detailed project proposal of such a strategy during the 2011 elections campaign which can easily be updated. But such a project requires political vision and execution, key ingredients that are clearly missing in the Granger administration.
If you observe the Granger administration, just like its predecessor the Ramotar administration, everything they do caters to the individual and collective needs of a privileged few and those with the deep pockets that control corrupt politicians. It is clear for all to see that the Granger administration has lost its way after just 15 short months because they disconnected from the ordinary, working class people. This lack of empathy for the poor and the working class by the ruling elite is making life harder for those at the bottom of the economic ladder and something will have to give very soon.
As you would notice, in the main, the poor and the working class are a people who get on with their business in their own little way and do not complain much unless it gets really overbearing. We may never have heard from such youthful talent like Ms Burnette unless there was a real sense of desperation. Her demands are very elementary: she just needs a job, so she can pay for her education and realize her ambitions. And there is nothing wrong with that; youths all over the world are realising their ambitions every day.
The poor and the working class have families to feed and bills to pay in spite of the fact that they have not been dealt a fair hand by the politicians over the last decade from both sides of the House. The latest transgression is that the new political elite took 50% increases for themselves to prevent themselves from becoming corrupt, but have not launched one policy that has comprehensively changed the opportunities environment in Guyana for the poor and the working class. Rather they are playing games with the people at the bottom. But even in all this struggle, and being aware that the politicians are fooling them, the poor and the working class continue to get on with their lives quietly, going out to work (if they are lucky enough to have a job), raising their families, doing their thing. The poor and the working class never asked for much. All they want is a fair deal from the people they elected into executive office. What will bring great comfort to them is if the people in power are on their side and working for them and not squandering their money on family and friends in financially compromised transactions.
You see Ms Burnette and others of her social status want to believe that everyone plays by the same rules and that everyone has a fair chance at the top. But more importantly, the poor and the working class want to believe that if they uphold their end of the bargain by following the rule of law, paying their taxes, then the big boys will build the framework which ensures that their tomorrow will be better than their today. This has not been the case under the Ramotar administration and this is certainly not the case under the Granger administration. So what really changed in Guyana in May 2015?
Yours faithfully,
Sase Singh
