Dear Editor,
Just when I thought that SN’s equivalent of “60 Minutes”, its closely followed cost-of-living series, would have to be wrapped in cottonwool and mothballed, the PPP Government came and gave it an extension on life. Don’t blame President Ali. He came and made his big splash with his $200,000 announcement for many, then $100,000 for more Guyanese, and went his way. It was best for both him and Guyanese that he went out on a high note. Money is the sweetest music; cash is an even more seductive melody. I’ll take it and do the usual: make some Guyanese lives easier momentarily. Then along came VP Jagdeo, who threw a shovel into the cash grant stew. My information is that Jagdeo is Doctor of Policy.
So could someone explain why he is so intimately involved in the cash grant procedures? For there he was telling Guyanese about this Ministry of Finance app. It is being worked on, and they are being careful making sure the X’s are crossed and O’s are a real circle. This will take time, and the PPP Government is not in a hurry.
This is what gives the people at SN some more time to gallivant across the country, and talk to poor Guyanese about “How the cost-of-living” is affecting them. It has been death itself, according to most participants in a media undertaking that should be given a dinner at State House, complete with national awards.
I confess readily that when the Guyanese people cried long and loud, the PPP Government came forward to dry their flood of tears relative to gnawing cost-of-living pangs. Cost-of-living was eating away at them, and Dr. Ali visited with his prescription: $100,000 B-12 blood enrichers. The people thought that relief was a knock on the gate away, only for them to be disappointed, their agonies with prices continue. President Ali did his part; then Jagdeo came into the picture and tore things apart. It all has to do with this App of apps. What started out as a crowd pleaser now has all the marks of nothing but a ‘tee-saah’. In the now characteristic fashion of the wily Jagdeo, the $100,000 cash grant distribution rests in the hands of the technical people. When they are done with this so-called near foolproof system, then it will be ready. According to the Bossman, it is to minimize corruption. Who would argue with that safety measure? To this point, all of the PPP Government’s supposed efforts to weed out corruption have only led to more corruption, bigger corruption. The well-disguised kind, which is, on occasion, not so well-camouflaged. But this is not about corruption, or a setup to knock it down. This is about citizens struggling to buy food amid an atmosphere of exuberant statistics.
Guyanese thought that they had a helping hand arriving soon in their neighbourhood, thanks to the first and second announcements from President Ali. Well, considering the Jagdeo announcement about an app, they now will just have to bear their chafe and tough it out, as they have been doing for the last four years plus. When there was no oil money, things were hard, but not this hard. Now that there is oil money and lavish spending for concrete works and roadworks, there should have been enough to spare, so that poor Guyanese can get their stomachs working again. If they are lucky, they may be able to do so for the Xmas holidays, and if not then, in time for Mash, if that app is still not finished to satisfaction, then it could be as far away as Easter, or whenever elections draw close, whichever comes first. Thinking of the open-ended delay in distribution, could it be that the tens of billions needed for this outlay are not there?
In wrapping my head around all this, it is transparent how the PPP Government creates dependents of Guyanese who need help urgently. They are held hostage to the caprices and artifices of leaders, who are more about propaganda than they are about people. The cash grant conversation and decision would have occupied weeks, probably months, within the PPP Government. There was going to be one. Just a matter of how much, the qualification criteria, and the date of delivery. I would assert, therefore, that a Guyana scholar with the peerless mental assets of Dr. AK Singh could have, would have, should have, had that app being developed, refined, and perfected. All this while the internal discussions were in motion at the highest levels of the PPP government. It is why I am so skeptical about this app that is held out as the reason for the money and love (and care) being up in the air. In observing Jagdeo at work, I must hand it to him. He is no longer content with shifting the goalposts during play. He shifts the whole field to whatever, wherever, suits his plans. The long and short of the cash grant distribution is that Guyanese must wait, hold their breath, and hope for the earliest delivery date.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
