The free State is one that is free from discrimination; it is one that is built on the basis of respect for cultural diversity, political inclusivity and social equality.” These are the words of President Granger, in his speech to the nation on the occasion of Guyana’s 51st Independence anniversary.

What a powerful statement it would have been, had it emanated from a more credible agent. Unfortunately for Guyanese, our 51st Independence anniversary dawned on a nation torn by increasing socioeconomic disparities, and a State machinery driven by vindictiveness, political tyranny and by extent discrimination. The spectre of ethnic politics continues to hover over Guyana as we venture without enthusiasm into a future of uncertainty and insecurity. At this point of our history, the Guyanese dream and the promises of human development it offered are now exclusively reserved for the political elite of Guyana. Our country has become a paradise to the Ministers and their families who benefit from multi-million dollar scholarships at the expense of taxpayers. Our cane-cutters’ taxes fund the shameful ministerial salary increases which enable men like Prime Minister Nagamootoo, to take home in a month more than what his fellow Berbician sugar worker earns in a year.

The appropriation of tax-dollars for the enjoyment and leisure of Government workers is however, but one aspect of the accelerating decay of our social fabric. Political witch-hunting and the persecution of political opponents of the PNC-led APNU/AFC Coalition, through the usurpation of national institutions and the judiciary, are another. One wonders what sort of “inclusivity” Granger boasts of, considering that the political Opposition now targeted systematically by the Government, represents the largest electorate of Guyana. One is yet to be provided with a justification of why only six of the former sixteen Guyana Rice Development Board Directors, under highly questionable circumstances and on legally disputable grounds, were inculpated for fraud. Until such time, one will continue to view this as deliberate political discrimination. A closer examination of execution of the Special Organised Crime Unit’s (SOCU) mandate, begs the question as to why those implicated in massive, billon-dollar corruption scandals, such as Ministers George Norton (Sussex Street drug bond affair), Joseph Harmon (Bai Shan Lin affair), Simona Broomes (who mines on proposed-title Amerindian land) and David Patterson (D’Urban Park funding) were not investigated, along with the third parties and others responsible. In like manner, light must be shed on why Georgetown Mayor Patricia Chase-Green and other Councillors of the M&CC, are not being investigated by SOCU in relation to the corrupt Smart City Solutions parking metre deal.

But the most flagrant evidence of the Government’s unequal treatment of Guyanese, resides in the political and ethnic discrimination behind specific policies promulgated in the agriculture sector, in particular. The devastation of the rice industry on which relies the majority of the rural Indo-Guyanese population, was a first indication that the Coalition Government acted vindictively. If the withdrawal of State support to the rice sector spurred economic growth, there would not have been cause for interrogation. But the brusque decision to drop rice farmers who, along with sugar workers, are the backbone of Guyana’s agriculture sector, immediately upon assuming power in 2015 and without a plan to cushion the impoverishing impact on rural families, speaks of the APNU/AFC’s ethnic agenda and political vindictiveness. Coincidentally, the significant majority of agriculture workers in rural Guyana, form the core support-base of the Opposition Peoples Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C).

In similar fashion, this year’s Independence Anniversary list of awardees, features a fraction of 18 per cent Indo Guyanese, with the remaining being of Afro-Guyanese descent, along with a few Portuguese, Euro-descendants and Amerindians.

In parenthesis, it would be interesting to note the close affiliation of awardees with the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC-R) and the Coalition Government, including, inter alia, two Justices, the University of Guyana’s Chancellor, an APNU Member of Parliament and several journalists known to be strongly aligned with the regime. So much for the separation of powers from the State, the independence of Guyana’s academic forum and the credibility of media houses.

Guyana’s 51st Independence Anniversary is to be celebrated to the extent that we are free from the grips of colonisation.

However, the ineptitude of our leaders to forge a socially cohesive society, and our own inability to overcome the limitations of our historical legacy, keeps us from achieving our full potential as nation united in its cultural and ethnic diversities.