Dear Editor,
Happy New Year to you and your staff along with the readers. Guyana has been able to pass another year, filled with increasing crimes, murder, deadly accidents, and tremendous unemployment amongst others. No doubt, some would have taken time to listen as the President gave his New Year’s greetings, filled with empty promises about the benefits we would be getting from oil. For the past four years, apart from promises, all the other resources Guyana possesses, seems to be of no interest to this administration. Meanwhile, Guyanese continue to face heavy burdens daily. With elections around the corner, we should seriously consider if the empty promises will ever materialise, after over four years of only seeing massive corruption and victimising. We’ve been seeing huge monies being spent on failed projects and entities like SOCU failing to perform. To date, after wasting millions of dollars on a feasibility study, we are nowhere closer to getting another Harbour Bridge or seeing any relief from the daily traffic congestion. Should we expect a better life under this administration? Without fear, I would say, no!
Editor, recently the Demerara Harbour Bridge started displaying a sign indicating that it would restrict trucks from crossing if they exceeded a certain amount of tonnage. This will affect residents of Essequibo, Bartica and other areas tremendously. It would cause the prices of items to increase. You will be paying the same amount of money for a load of sand, similar to the price in Georgetown, but you will be getting less. The increased prices for lumber and cement, amongst others, will be additional burden to consumers. Has this administration given any thought to their decision and its effects? No! Since entering office all we are seeing are massive increases all over, whilst salaries remain almost next to nothing. Their solution? Fill our bellies with promises of the benefits from oil. Whilst the Minister admits that mistakes/blunders did occur when the agreement was signed, I highly doubt that could be rectified because, based on another Minister’s admission, deals that occurred under the PPP/C’s tenure with GTT, cannot be rectified by this administration. In other words, each deal is irreversible. So, they enjoy the good life, whilst we are ‘punishing’. Many things could be said about the PPP/C, but there’s no way, anyone could say Guyana is better under this administration. Almost everyone has some sort of regret and anger to express against them.
Yours faithfully,
Sahadeo Bates
