LIFE GOES NOT BACKWARD
Since the last election, there are signs that a wind of change is blowing. For example, the government has begun in earnest the process to restore the good name of Guyana among its CARICOM neighbours and more particularly, in the international community.
However, as is expected, there are some in the opposition who believe that even given the best of choices, Guyanese will choose the worst of options. So they continue to spread doom and gloom in their quest to divide the people and score cheap political points. It is this ultra-pessimistic view that has not only divided the opposition and caused its defeat at the polls but it also signals to the people that the party is essentially in trouble. It is running out of meaningful ideas.
Guyanese endured enough pain and suffering and have experienced enough hardships under the previous administration. They sent a clear message in the last election that they want a more accountable, transparent and respectful Government and that Guyana will not go back to dictatorial rule but will move forward.
Many believe that the PPP in its present form will likely become irrelevant and eventually disintegrate as a political powerhouse under the selfish leadership of Jagdeo. They contend that the party has at this time become a political train wreck, and the serious members have totally rejected Jagdeo’s often repeated caustic admonition that the economy will crumble and Guyana is destined to fail under the new government.
The majority of Guyanese do not believe the PPP’s propaganda that the country is moving in a backward direction. They are saddened by Jagdeo’s cold, calculating and devious attacks on a government which has only been in office for seven months. It is not only irrational, but illogical. They believe that his refusal to answer legitimate questions about the mismanagement of billions of dollars during his presidency and his ultimatum to the party not to support any proposals by the Government if certain issues are not addressed to their satisfaction, despite the possible benefits to the citizens, is absurd.
They claim that it is unacceptable for the leader of the opposition to be dishonest with the citizenry. The PPP membership is not accepting of the contempt with which they are treated by Jagdeo who was largely responsible for the party’s defeat at the polls last May.
Avid supporters of the PPP have posited that the party must reinvent itself and implement a meaningful framework for change in 2016 as a viable option and not simply more of the same cuss-down style politics which have rendered the party a rudderless ship that is about to capsize. They are at a loss for words at their leader’s callous behaviour, the selfishness which exists in the party, and the way they are being treated with little or no compassion.
During the last fifteen years, the PPP administration was seen as a force that had no problem in leaving citizens in darkness and spewing evil bent on crushing its opponents, but it did not work because the people did not give in or give up. Instead, they have become the bearers of justice, peace, hope and reconciliation under a new government that most believe is committed to putting the interest of the people and the country first.
The day of parting for the PPP was the day of gathering for the new government and that its eve was in truth its dawn; for life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday, which according to the German Poet, Franz Kafka: From a certain point onward there is no longer any turning back. That is the point that must be reached.
