Dear Editor,
PPP and PNC are the two behemoths that have dominated Guyanese politics and alternately took turns at the presidency. What good have they done?
No regard for the Constitution and Court Rulings. Some leaders there still believe that GECOM can tear off and operate on its own without regard for the Constitution’s overall aims and objectives. People are traumatized – live in fear of home invasions, being killed on the dangerous roadways, no drinkable potable water, bad healthcare, frequent electricity blackouts. Prof Tarron Khemraj told a NY audience Guyana is already a resource-cursed country – revenues in millions of dollars have done nothing to lift up this country.
What record does the PPP and PNC have to run on? Neither wants to renegotiate the oil contracts – which all the experts say should be renegotiated. So they are both sellout parties. They do politics not for the betterment of the Guyanese people – but to line their own pockets. That’s what PNC/APNU did as soon as they assumed office – the Ministers gave themselves 50% salary increases, the people got 5%. All of this is very defining of both PPP and PNC/APNU
Enter two brand new parties – ANUG and LJP (Liberal and Justice Party/Amerindian party). If the Guyanese people would only take stock of what has happened over the last 70-years – such deplorably low living standards – they would see the wisdom of voting for a new set of leaders. ANUG and LJP deserve a seat at the table as power-brokers. They will stop the excesses and corruption.
On Saturday night in Richmond Hill, Queens, NY, I had the good fortune of attending a meeting to listen to LJP’s leader Lenox Shuman. They say this man flies big planes for a living, but I will tell you he has made a very convincing case for “equal political space” at the power table for the Indigenous peoples of Guyana. Mr Shuman laid out these facts: they are 15% of the population, they live in some 209 villages – all in riverain areas – up creeks and up rivers. Some of their people cannot drink the water or eat the fish from the creeks and rivers – poisoned from the mercury used in gold mining. No proper healthcare and transportation and schools. Coastland people are much better off. Filtered water is sold at $600 a bottle – but the Amerindians don’t have much of a cash economy. Will they forever survive on subsistence cassava farms and handouts?
Shuman has plans for building a modern economy for these 50,000 indigenous peoples. He knows their needs and their culture. He needs to be recognized. Above everything else, Mr Shuman embodies hope and potential to change Guyanese politics. As a power broker he can force the other powers to end corruption and restore decency and constitutional rule in Guyana. If he wins 3 – 4 seats he will be that power broker.
Politics in Guyana is all about identity and race. Indians and Africans vote 94% strong for their respective ethnic parties. Is it not time for the Amerindians to do the same?
Amerindians need to stand up and say: No more handouts. We demand a seat at the Executive Power Suite. All ethnic groups need to be self- and politically-conscious and be respected in equal measure at the national level. End second – and third-class levels of citizenship.
Good luck, Mr Lenox Shuman
Yours faithfully,
Mike Persaud,
New York
