APNU is whistling a different tune these days
APRIL 20, 2016 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER FEATURES / COLUMNISTS, PEEPING TOM
The coalition must not take the Guyanese people for granted. Guyanese people are tolerant, but certainly not stupid.
The government must not believe that Guyanese active memory is only confined to current events. Guyanese have the memory of an elephant.
They remember, all too well, things in the past. They remember what was said, when it was said, and who said it. They remember also what was promised, who promised what, and when it was promised
Guyanese do not forget easily. Guyanese thrive on their capacity to remember things in the distant past. Some Guyanese have the faculty of remembering things before they were born.
Guyanese love to look back at the past. They do it every day. Whenever the government is criticized, the supporters dig deep into their memory bank to find out something similar that the PPP did.
Guyanese love an old-time story. Every Guyanese has his or her own collection of nostalgia.
Guyanese may conveniently omit to recall certain things such as the excesses from 1977 onwards. Guyanese may block out from their thoughts certain things which they are ashamed of, but do not erase it from the database in their brains.
Guyanese have good memories. They remember all too well when the APNU had been highly critical of certain companies operating in the forestry sector.
Guyanese remember how the same APNU had accused these companies of enjoying sweetheart deals, and of being given too many concessions. Guyanese remember all too well that APNU had promised to investigate these deals.
Guyanese also remember the concerns that were expressed about the exportation of logs from Guyana. They remember who said what.
Guyanese voted for change because of what was said. They expected that action would have been taken to address some of the criticisms of the activities of foreign investors in Guyana.
Guyanese remember well that when the new government came in, it gave an ultimatum to certain companies that they must begin to do processing of logs rather than export them. Guyanese remember that the companies were given deadlines by which they were expected to establish wood processing plants.
It was said that if the deadlines were not met, that action would be taken, since the failure to establish the wood processing plants constituted a breach of those companies’ agreements with the government.
Can somebody tell me whatever happened to those deadlines? This is not skin-teeth story. What happened to the deadlines that were given to the foreign investors to set up their wood processing plants? Those deadlines have passed. What actions have been taken against the defaulting companies?
Why were no actions taken? The public needs to know. The public does not want any bluffing. The public wants to know whether the government has been saying one thing and doing another.
The seizure of luxury vehicles by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) is a tax matter. The GRA will be called upon to justify the lawfulness of its actions.
The actions by the GRA have nothing to do with any attempts on the part of the government to right what APNU described when it was in the opposition. The actions of GRA were not part of any review of these deals made by the PPP with foreign investors.
The Guyanese people must ask themselves why it is that state-owned agencies headed by persons perceived to be sympathetic to the government were subject to so-called forensic audits, but to date not one of the major investment agreements between the PPP government and foreign investors has been investigated. Why?
Those who have convenient recall are the ones who are going to be fooled in this country. Those who try to conceal the past are the ones who are going to feel betrayed by the government.
APNU must explain how it preached one thing when it was in opposition, but now it is singing a different tune that it is in the seat of government.