An AFC/APNU coalition government will stop Guyana from sinking deeper

Dear Editor, We believe that this election is the most important election in Guyana since Independence and we are hoping that Guyanese take it very seriously and go to the polls on Election Day, May 11. Staying away from the polls is not an option because the future of Guyana and all Guyanese is at stake. We also believe that if the PPP wins the election, Guyana will sink deeper but if the people elect an AFC/APNU coalition government, their hopes will be alive and Guyana will swim again. We want the people to know that during the past three years, most of the energy of political work by the opposition was devoted to correcting the effects of fiscal mismanagement and gross incompetence of the minority PPP government. The PPP regime has watered and fertilized the seeds of corruption, extravagance and the squandering of the taxpayers’ money, contrary to the solemn oath they took and the promises the president made to the nation when he was sworn in. In this election, the people have to send the corrupt and reckless PPP regime a clear message that they want a more accountable, un-corrupt, moral and transparent government which would consult them; respect them and treat them with dignity. They want a government that sees the rule of law as paramount and will serve with humility—a government that we will honor the faith and trust of the Guyanese people and will reject governmental extravagance. They want a government that is caring, trustworthy and will be vigilant in eliminating partisan and racial politics, corruption, crime and illegal drugs. They do not want a government which squanders their money, rapes the treasury, dips into the foreign reserves, uses the country’s resources to fatten their overseas bank accounts, and takes the best ocean front lands for themselves, their relatives and friends. Guyanese do not want a government that gives them only a five percent increase in wages annually, thus forcing them to live from pay check to pay check; a government that is vindictive and has destroyed the lives of many innocent citizens who criticize their wrong doing. Finally, the people do not want a government that dictates to them, abandons the poor and the working class, governs in the interests of a few and is possessed with power and wealth. The people want a government that is caring and righteous and will solve their problems and not this ruthless PPP cabal. They want an AFC/APNU coalition government that will govern in the interests of all, restore the country’s dignity and reduce Jagdeo’s $3 million a month pension and unlimited personnel and vehicles. Such extravagance has become an overwhelming burden on the country. The masses who have been living this dreadful reality for the last decade or more have been carrying the financial burden of the nation on their backs while those who govern them; the privileged two per cent are safe in their cocoon of financial protection; hidden from the ghastly realities of crime and the decay of the society that the masses face on a daily basis. Ministers and other public officials in the minority PPP government and their entourage have the audacity to suggest they are being underpaid for their responsibility and the long hours they work. They are perpetually at war with one another for the country’s resources. They have no solidarity with the ordinary people and have not responded in a caring manner to their plight, as a sensible government would normally do to the suffering of its people. Guyanese must not allow the past to determine their future, so they must elect a government on May 11 that will reverse the extravagance, corruption, and the abuse of power that has characterized the Jagdeo/Ramotar regime for the last fifteen years. The PPP regime has shirked its obligations to the people and has become a pariah and the most corrupt party in Guyana today. The PPP cabal is a dying breed with no integrity or morals and who has destroyed the consciousness and the nobility of the nation. There is the general belief that the PPP is organizationally dysfunctional and has not established a clearly defined economic and human development framework that would serve to move the country forward. Some have theorized that the dysfunction remains because the PPP is leader-centric and is not committed to govern in the interest of all but a selected few. The Jadeoites in the PPP have embraced the personality of their founding leader only when it suits them at election, but they have not remained wedded to his philosophy, even posthumously as an election strategy, which is not to be corrupt or be above the law or use the state resources for their personal benefits. But the short-sighted opportunistic Jagdeoites have done the exact opposite. Today, the PPP is an insular party that is driven by money, power, vindictiveness and vulgarity. The PPP cabal’s overarching interest lies in their financial wealth. They have not done anything to improve the rundown hospitals, substandard medical care, high infant mortality rate, illiteracy, low life expectancy, lack of basic human amenities, a backward education system, a collapsing UG and failing public schools, and constant floods—maladies that the Jagdeo/Ramotar regime has ignored for the past 15 years. Not to mention, Georgetown, the capital city is in rut, City Hall and other public buildings are in decay, the Botanical Garden is without animals, the archive and the public library are in ruin, a police force that is untrained, highly unprofessional and corrupt and a depressed public service. Say what you may about the combined opposition, the one thing that is solidly true of the AFC and APNU is that the leadership has always understood the socio-economic and cultural dynamics of the Guyanese electorate to such an extent that they remain active in the political consciousness. They have seen and have acknowledged the decay and have promised to remedy the situation. So, it is up to the people to convert their political consciousness into profitable and practical political outcomes and vote for an AFC/APNU coalition government on May 11.

Dr. Asquith Rose,

Chandra Deolall,

Dr. Merle Spenser-Marks.