Dear Editor,
December the 21st 2022 marks the 4th Anniversary of the No Confidence Motion (NCM) of December 21st, 2018. To commemorate the first anniversary of the NCM, I did a painting of the constitutional crises that ensued. The NCN and other TV channels, with the exception of Channel 65, refused to carry the story behind the painting. This painting is the only visual art representation of that historic event in which Guyanese lived for 19 months under siege so that the People’s Progres-sive Party (PPP) could regain the seat of government. I have submitted a copy of the painting and a letter to the Editor on this 4th Anniversary of the MCM.
I introduced my letter with a quotation by the late Rev Martin Luther King Jr. “Our life begins to end the day we become silent about things that matter”. There were lots of speculations as to the motive behind the NCM. The PPP said it was in the interest and welfare of the Guyanese nation. They intended to renegotiate the Exxon Mobile contract to ensure that Guyana got a better deal. However, the real motive was to get their hands on the nation’s oil/gas wealth. They continued where the APNU+AFC had left off, to foot Exxon and the other giant oil consortium’s exploration costs which would result in Guyana owing these big capitalist oil consortiums billions of USD$.
Even worse, we have no insurance in the event of an oil spill such as had occurred with the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska in 1989. An environmental disaster that was considered the worst in America’s history until the Deep Water Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico by BP on April 20th, 2010. Eleven persons lost their lives and 115 persons suffered injuries, some severe. It destroyed 85 thousand birds and put 35 thousand fishermen out of work. The complete and utter destruction of marine life will take decades to replenish. The catastrophic disaster of the Peruvian oil spill on the 15th of January 2022, in which the big Spanish oil consortium, Repsol, refused to render any assistance in the cleanup. The poor Peruvian coastal residents are left with the severe environmental impact and cleanup stretching for hundreds of miles along the Pacific coast that destroyed the fishing, tourist industry, and livelihood of thousands of Peruvians.
It is unclear whether the PPP government has seriously considered what would be the consequences of an oil spill, and the environmental impact on our coastal region and beyond. The destruction of our marine life, the fishing industry, and the contamination of our waterways. The PPP government has a responsibility to the Guyanese nation but their action in allowing Exxon a freehand is a betrayal of our sovereignty. Oil money is flooding into Guyana but most are skeptical that Guyanese will benefit. Minister with responsibility for Finance, Ashni Singh, in an interview with Reuters said, “Our commitment as a government is to ensure that opportunities are real across the country, irrespective of where one lives, irrespective of whom someone might have voted for”.
In a society in which corruption has become endemic under both the PNC and PPP governments, allegations of unfair distribution of the USD$600 Million withdrawal from the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) to its supporters, party loyalists, and financial backers are fueling animosity for the PPP Government, mainly among Afro-Guyanese. In New York City, thousands of Guyanese of African descent at a rally expressed their concern for their families, friends, and Afro-Guyanese in Guyana. The notion of race/class/political discrimination prejudice, victimization, likes, and dislikes are politically ingrained in the system and has been conveniently used by both the PNC and PPP to divide and rule the population and to consolidate in defense of their class interest.
In its resort to subterfuge, the PPP Government has floated the idea in the mainstream corporate media that Guyana will become the fastest-growing economy on the planet. Our enormous oil wealth will accelerate Guyana’s development in keeping with the Dubai model where Guyanese working class will gravitate to the middle class, owning their own homes, and cars, with unemployment being a thing of the past! Not long ago, the PPP’s draconian anti-working class nature came to the fore. Government announcements of an 8% increase for public servants faced with an ever raising cost of living, with pensioners barely surviving on GUYD $900 a day, there is no relief for the thousands of unemployed young people. The unfulfilled promise of 50 thousand jobs by President Ali.
In commemorating the 4th anniversary of the NCM, the PPP was given yet another opportunity in government, to use the nation’s oil wealth to bring about national reconciliation and prosperity for all Guyanese, rather than use it for its partisan political agenda which will have damaging effects on our already delicate and sensitive race relations, while widening the gap between the very rich and the downtrodden Guyanese, grounded in poverty and despair. I want to conclude with a quote by Helen Keller…”Until the great mass of people shall be filled with the sense of responsibility for each other’s welfare, social justice can never be attained”.
Sincerely,
Desmond Alli
Guyana United Artists (GUA)
