Dear Editor,
I wish to note the uneasiness the People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP) no-confidence motion is causing the APNU+AFC coalition government. Having been broadsided by the call, the government resorted to its customary bullying tactics emboldened by its one-seat majority in the National Assembly to deliberately delay the hearing of the motion until December 21.
Let me state clearly that this visionless government, through its inept management, has turned a once prosperous country with a booming economy and years of sustained and expanded economic growth, into one that continues to slide daily into poverty. Their incompetence has led to the closing of many businesses and industries, resulting in thousands losing their jobs and the economy to regress.
Their callous actions of inflicting over 200 tax measures have caused our hardworking people, including ordinary farmers, vendors and sugar workers, to suffer unnecessarily and to be humiliated in the process of trying to provide for their families. The blatant and rampant corruption for personal enrichment and rewards for cronies and financiers, continues to haemorrhage the national coffers, denying crucial financial resources for much needed projects to help improve the lives of vulnerable Guyanese.
With every passing day, all can see the economic hardships increasingly breaking the backs of Guyanese who have become despondent over the government’s inability to govern. While Guyanese people continue to suffer and progress ceases, government’s extravagance abounds. It continues to raid the international reserves for unnecessary purposes putting the future of all in jeopardy. This is exacerbated by incessant borrowing as the nation’s debt balloons. This is the stark reality which the government continues to deny and tries to camouflage by boasting of achievements. It boasts of financial independence of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) without mentioning that the Chairman was appointed unilaterally and unconstitutionally. That is one of the many examples of the dictatorial practices the government unleashed to foster its own and narrow agenda.
Parliamentary democracy has also evaporated as the government imposes its will while disregarding the Standing Orders. That imposition was very evident by the government’s gerrymandering of boundaries to give it an added advantage at the recently held Local Government Elections (LGE). In its characteristic way, it failed to consult with the necessary stakeholders in the process.
The government is now boasting of promoting and lifting the image of the Indigenous peoples, forgetting that it humiliated them by firing 2000. In the same manner, they pushed thousands of sugar workers into poverty having callously closed the estates. Today, many of those workers are still waiting for their severance as the social impact continues to devastate their families. While claiming that monies are not available to save the sugar industry, the government has increased funding for its own dietary, security, rentals needs and expensive vehicles.
The government is yet to implement a project of its own initiative and as its desperation grows, it takes credit for the modernisation of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) and the East and West Coast road expansion projects, which were all envisaged and implemented by the PPP. Had this government not scrapped the Amaila Falls Hydro project, Guyanese today would have been benefiting from cheaper, reliable and cleaner electricity. Similarly, had the Specialty Hospital not been heartlessly abandoned, today, the provision of healthcare would have vastly improved.
The government’s inability to conceive transformation projects and its penchant to strangle those envisaged by the PPP, further demonstrates its profound lack of vision and its incapacity to govern. Even in an area in which it claims to have prowess – security – criminal activities continue unabated as the crime rate spirals out of control. Under its watch, prisoners were burnt to death; the main prison completely destroyed by fire; jailbreaks are frequent and citizens are daily robbed, beaten and some killed as fear grips the nation. This, among others, exemplified its dearth of initiatives to protect and improve the lives of Guyanese.
Having promised massive reductions in VAT and the Berbice Bridge tolls, what the government eventually implemented was minuscule, which is consumed by the rising cost of living inclusive of higher fuel prices. Those were political gimmicks as was the ploy to raise the said tolls. All ICT interventions, inclusive of hubs and laptops distribution, are PPP initiatives. Similarly, it was the PPP, under the then President Bharrat Jagdeo, that rolled out the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) to put Guyana on track for a green economy and sustainable development.
I urge all my Guyanese compatriots not to allow themselves to be fooled by the government. With millions of taxpayers monies it has now prioritised to fund its propaganda, the government is not short of fallacies designed to mislead. These are the facts; progress has been stymied; the economy has contracted; the cost of living continues to rise; jobs are being lost; people are sliding into poverty; criminal activities are unrelenting as fear permeates; housing has come to a virtual standstill; people, including our young professionals are despondent; social services are deteriorating; roads are crumbling; power outages are daily occurrences; corruption is rampant, and freedom and democracy severely under threat. That’s more than enough reasons for the ordinary Guyanese to lose confidence in the government, hence its nervousness.
Yours faithfully,
Zulfikar Mustapha
PPP/C Member of Parliament
