Granger concedes…

Latest slur on business community’s integrity based on mere conjecture

March 3, 2014, Source

David Granger

GUYANA’S history is replete with attacks against the business community, and throughout the years, there has always been one commonality; and that is a single source behind this evil scheme.There are some out there who are not aware that the base for modern Guyana was laid by the People’s Progressive Party and Dr. Cheddi Jagan as Premier of British Guiana in the early 1960s. It is Dr. Jagan and the PPP which constructed Guyana’s first industrial park at Ruimveldt, on the lower East Bank, to create the foundation for our private sector. This was just one of many initiatives started by Dr. Jagan and his government then to create a strong, vibrant business community in our country, which would be the catalyst for our future economic development.

But then, the US, British imperial forces, and Forbes Burnham, with his offshoot of the PPP, the PNC, teamed up to undermine the Cheddi Jagan government. Their main target? British Guiana’s economy.

In ‘Guyana: A Country Study’, we are told that “the British authorities permitted, and even encouraged, a destabilisation campaign by the opposition PNC. Anti-government demonstrations and riots increased, and, in 1963, mobs destroyed parts of Georgetown, the capital, when labour unrest paralyzed the economy…”

Central to this plan of destabilisation was the Trades Union Congress. Do we see something similar playing out today with Lincoln Lewis and the TUC’s recent instruction to the PNC/APNU against supporting the ammendment of the AML/CFT Bill, which will result in Guyana becoming economically blacklisted by the international community?

In the 1964 election, which was won by the PPP, the British refused to follow their own established parliamentary system and call upon Dr. Jagan to form the next Government. Rather, they encouraged the PNC to team up with a leader of the private sector, Peter D’Aguiar, and his United Force party, which, when combined, gave them a parliamentary majority to form the next government.

However, true to form, Burnham would later be quoted, in declassified CIA documents during a meeting with US authorities on how he planned to rig the 1968 elections, as saying that he would evict businessman D’Aguiar from his next illegitimate Government. An excerpt from the document reads: “At this meeting, Burnham stated unequivocally that he plans to conduct the registration and voting in such a manner that the PNC will emerge with an absolute majority in the Guyana National Assembly. Burnham said that he will never again allow the life of his government to depend upon his coalition partner Peter D’Aguiar…”

A few years later, the restrictions on importations, including basic food items and essential raw materials, by the PNC Government would prove another massive blow to the business community. There is no need to repeat the historic economic lows which were achieved in the 1980s, including the drying up of foreign currency, rise of the ‘Black Market’, and interest rates spiralling out of control, which combined to devastate the private sector.

The PNC attack on the business community did not cease when it was evicted by the Guyanese people in the first free and fair elections, post-independence. It was this sector which felt the brunt of the specifically targeted attacks by the ‘Puppet Master’ of APNU with their carefully orchestrated post-elections violence in Georgetown. The looting and the destruction all tied into the ‘slow fiya, mo fiya’ publicly stated policy of the opposition.

Fast forward to the 2011 elections, which saw the PPP winning a majority of votes, but with the APNU and AFC combined gaining a one-seat majority in the National Assembly. This presented the opposition with the ideal opportunity to advance its clear agenda of making the country ‘ungovernable’, and, of course, in achieving this end, its partner the AFC warned that anyone and everyone would be ‘collateral damage’ in this process.

The AFC clearly has not given much thought of the fate of Mr. Peter D’Aguiar and his UF party after the PNC had finished using it to achieve their ultimate agenda of regaining political power.

Would there be a dÉjà vu, as is the case with our private sector suffering currently? At this point, you will recall that during and after the 2011 regional and general elections, APNU and its youth arm were circulating a list of names of particular businesses which they were urging their supporters to stay away from.

Their concern was not that these businesses were involved in anything illegal, but rather that they would not dance to the tune of the opposition. Some of the businesses were run by Afro-Guyanese, which further provoked the wrath of APNU, who accused them of being on the side of the Government.

In hindsight, this admission nullified an earlier contention by the very party, in their usual exploitation of ethnic insecurities prior to elections, that Afro-Guyanese were not part of the business community, and, more specifically, were not accessing Government contracts.

In the two years since (slashing consecutive national budgets aside), the business community has found itself suffering at the hands of their traditional tormenter once again. Based on the preceding facts, the APNU and AFC steadfastly plan to ensure that Guyana’s being economically blacklisted by the international community should not come as a surprise to anyone.

Old Kai had pointed out recently, where, by the mere slip of a tongue, another old tormenter, the TUC via Lincoln Lewis, confirmed that there was a plan in place that APNU would not support the amended AML/CFT Bill, despite their public assurances that they would.

Not surprisingly, APNU and AFC have now ensured that Guyana has missed the latest deadline before which our country will officially be recommended for international sanctions. Even before this, many businesses had already begun complaining of the effects of the additional financial scrutiny now being applied by overseas partners and firms, and had warned that ‘every man, woman and child’ will be seriously affected.

But, as if this were not enough, the opposition has now moved to new levels in its vicious attack against the business community by publicly announcing that a significant (substantial, major) number of them are involved in illegal activities.

APNU, with the support of the AFC, has, with this accusation, now reduced years, in some cases decades, of hard, honest, and unrelenting work of our business people to zero.

All those who have struggled and stayed in Guyana, throughout the rough periods; those who made the commitment to return home and invest; the small man who scrimped and saved to invest and is now seeing his way; those major companies who took up the challenge to come to Guyana, despite the opposition-instigated violence, have all had their sacrifices denigrated.

They have been cheated out of their success stories with APNU labelling them crooks who depend on ‘dirty money’.

Please bear in mind that these are the very people this party and the AFC turn to when they need financing to campaign for elections. Their money was not ‘dirty’ when Mr. Granger needed it for the 2011 elections, but when they have placed him in a position of power in the National Assembly, he has suddenly awoken like ‘Rip Van Winkle’ and realises their money is tainted.

Surely, a responsible opposition would provide facts to make such a damaging statement against the business community; but according to the media, Mr. Granger has based his position on a perception.

This is coming from an individual who is hoping that he can be the next leader of Guyana. Old Kai’s advice is to go back to sleep, ‘Rip Van Winkle’, and keep on dreaming.