Dear Editor,
I continually ask myself this question: Why is Guyana still so poor in spite of it having so many resources? Why are we not seeing progress under this Granger regime? After all, President David Granger was the one who promised the nation the good life. But after three hard years, he is the lead proponent of the backwardness that passes for public policy in Guyana today. Unfortunately, there is no end in sight with a sustainable solution. All this promise of oil money is more of the same carrot tied to the donkey on a stick. Yes, there will be pennies on the pound coming Guyana’s way but after the politicians apply their discounts, there will be very little left for actual human development.
The big challenge today is that the majority of our citizens have less disposable income that they had before Mr Granger acceded to power. So they have few options to make the choice between saving and investing. You cannot save what you do not have and when you have to buy food. Rather it is an environment of survival of the fittest and this brings out the worst in our people. Just observe the current crime wave.
On top of that, the politicians are not prepared to provide world-class public goods and services to the people because they are so entrapped in the process of their self-enrichment and self-aggrandizement. This statement helps understand why Mr Granger’s government has chosen to build a bridge across the Demerara River using 1990s’ technology rather than modern technology. Even the Chinese Ambassador had cause to add his voice to this discussion.
When President David Granger sold himself to the nation in 2015 as the better candidate this is what he said in his manifesto:
“The APNU+AFC coalition is actually more than six parties. It has already become a national movement for transformation.”
I particularly raise this declaration made by Mr Granger because it is important that the young people of Guyana understand how empty his rhetoric really is today. It is more than three years now, but Team Granger is still stuck on the record of blaming the PPP for their current failure. But in reality that song is not relevant anymore; the blame today lies squarely at Mr Granger’s feet. The nation is failing in 2018 because of the incapable team he has around him and his own poor leadership.
That is why I believe that today Mr Granger’s transformation has been lost in transition. The style and nature of the Granger government today is one of narrow-minded political dominance that exhibits an attitude of ethnic superiority. To add to that defect, we can find all over this Granger regime embedded orthodoxies that tell the youths that they must wait their turn until the septuagenarians and their political creatures complete their period of office. Married to such a mindset is the rigid inflexibility on how our resources are distributed (no money for severed Wales Estate sugar workers but we have $1.5 billion for a parade ground because the leader loves his pageantry). But the feature of this regime that most distinguishes it is that it exhibits many attitudes of core incompetency and inexperience on many fronts. One just needs to reflect on how it has handled the many crises that have beset the nation since May 2015.
So when Mr Granger says that “This Manifesto promises a bright future for all…” (see APNU+AFC Manifesto) any member of the public can quickly observe one of two things. One a delusional man who is out at sea on what it takes to provide that bright future. Or two, a man who walks a path that will end in the people being deprived of their resources.
That is why with “humble hearts and head bowed down” (to quote from a national song), we the children of Guyana must recommit to fighting all the trappings of this odious apparatus being constructed. This fight is not going to be with guns, but with the willpower of the people as they slowly amalgamate to resist this current day oppression and social injustice just as our foreparents did during the Burnham days and won.
Yours faithfully,
Sasenarine Singh
