Dear Editor,
Note is taken of SN’s editorial titled, `Human dignity in the cash grant programme’ (SN Jan 03-25). Well said, folks. I wish it were different, but for 60 years under different governments (PNC, PPP, Coalition hodgepodge, and now PPP again), the ordinary citizen has been treated like dirt. Under the PNC, Guyanese were subject to numerous appalling indignities for a li’l loaf of bread, a small sack of rice, and a half pint of oil. Under the PPP to collect a pension book is a root canal. Now, there is the granddaddy of them all, the Cash Grant Initiative. Here is my anatomy of a political-govt-leadership postmortem. Yeah, it’s tough job, but somebody has to do some honest labour in this town.
President Ali hit his stride early: the money will be paid out “immediately.” Thank God for Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo who jumped in and introduced some sanity into the presidential frivolousness. Nosir! Not “immediately” but five months or so. Incidentally, because it is Jagdeo, it is better to leave god out of this. Then along sauntered the man with the moneybag into the cash grant conversation, the minister who can lay legit claim to being a national scholar, Dr. Ashni Singh. He was a testimony to calm and wisdom. He spoke of some “process” and then assured and reassured Guyanese hungering for the hundred large that it would be ‘simple and easy.’ Given what has been the reality on the ground with collecting the money, the collection has been anything but ‘simple and easy.’ I have an unsolicited word of advice for Dr. Ashni Singh: please, sir, stick to numbers, which I think is where the scholarship accolades were well-earned. In future, leave the English Language to people who can deal with it, understand what words mean, and when and how they should be used. If I may be allowed to nominate myself, consider it done. For ‘simple and easy’ it has not been Dr. Singh. Now for the nasty, as the street people would say.
A crowd turned up at the NIS on Monday to collect. Sheer unmitigated, unbridled, unabated madness. Is Dr. Ashni “Mr. Simple and Easy” Singh, still reading. The expectant left in disappointment. The hardy decided to stick around and tuff it out; some made it home with a cheque , while others didn’t. On Friday, the last day the cash grant collection door was opened at the NIS, there was a crowd of National Park, or National Stadium, proportions. The whole process was of people pushing each other out of the way, elbowing others, and stopping just short of headbutting others out of the lines. It was some combination of a riot, a mob, and a PPP Congress. How was any of this, Dr. Singh ‘simple and easy?’ Somebody misled Guyanese, made a proper fool out of each them, and I know that it is not I.
When things like these happen, I think that these fine Guyanese luminaries, Ali, Jagdeo, Singh, et al should be shown the door in the most unceremonious manner possible. Look at the sequence of the runup to this cash grant business. For four strangling years, the PPP Government and its top people denied and dismissed that there was/is a cost-of-living crisis. They had smart stats. They had the tens of billions that were set aside as relief measures. They had fears of inflationary spiral. Then all that got turned on its head, when on October 10, 2024, President Ali came out with Guyana’s version of the Great October Revolution. It was $200k at first, then down to $100k. Nobody was counting or arguing. Just gimme the damn money. It is an indication of the desperate straits in which Guyanese find themselves. Meanwhile, while Guyanese are punishing, the PPP Government is so callous and depravedly indifferent (take note Anil) that some of its high people were dancing at some grand ball.
Remember the SN editorial captioned “Human dignity…” regrettably, that took an extended leave of absence in this country, with heavy credit to Excellencies Ali, Jagdeo, and Singh.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
