No more of this ‘nonsense’ in 2014

GUYANESE will be spending the final hours of 2013, engaged in a variety of thoughts and assessments of their personal achievements and what they should have done, with regard to those goals that eluded their grasp. For those, who fell short, perhaps they did not effect the efforts necessary for success, or maybe circumstances were an obstacle. Obviously, they are going to re-commence such efforts with renewed vigour and resolve come 2014. It can only be re-emphasised again, that the only remedy for success and achievement is very hard work. We wish all Guyanese of this dear land, the best of every success, for 2014.Now we must focus on our parliamentary Opposition parties – A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC). Can we as a people and nation truly conclude that these elected men and women honestly, conscientiously, and patriotically discharged their sworn duties in the interest of the country that they profess to love? Have they truly been representatives of the people? Even their staunchest supporters will resoundingly shout a loud NO!

First of all, one measures lawmakers’ performance by the practical efforts and contributions made towards nation building. This means promoting initiatives that go towards improving the socio-economic standards of the people, including those whom they represent.
What the entire nation would have witnessed and endured for a second consecutive year is a pattern of parliamentary conduct, concertedly orchestrated, contrived, and designed by both parties, to embarrass a government that has the best interests of the nation and its peoples uppermost as they continue to implement solid programmes and initiatives for each citizen’s good.
It has to be a parliamentary precedent that after an opposition motion has been ruled as unconstitutional by judicial process, it has still been used for a further similar action – another budget cut. Is this not the summit of all lawlessness, coupled with a deliberateness that can only be described as intended to sabotage the nation’s process?
How can any responsible, even reasonable, opposition party explain and rationalise budgetary cuts that goes to the heart of the national interest – the Cheddi Jagan International Airport Project, a much needed expansion that Guyana needs because of its on-going economic transformation and its strategic location as a transit route for flights to Africa and as a potential for attracting investors, among other benefits; the cut to the proposed building of the Specialty hospital that will save those Guyanese who need specialised medical intervention, the need to seek such treatment abroad, apart from the training opportunities that will be available to younger medical practitioners; Then there is the Low Carbon Development Strategy that encapsulates programmes for Hinterland communities’ socio-economic development and the nation in the process.
Even the State’s right to promote and disseminate information on its numerous national development programmes, for the public’s knowledge, had been challenged as a result of cuts to its arms – the Government Information Agency and the National Communications Network.

These are just a few of the numerous programmes that have been affected, because of such an arbitrary and illegal action to the 2013 budget. This particular action exposes the clear and unmistakable hypocrisy of the two Opposition parties that have often accused the government of being “undemocratic”. Just look who is making such an accusation! Surely, this nation would not have forgotten what the People’s National Congress (PNC) government did to this country and its peoples, during those long, dark years! Hypocrites, for want of a better description!
So power crazed, and unconscionable has this Opposition cabal been in the continuous use of its combined majority, and politics of spite, that it has continued its vendetta against the person of the Minister of Home Affairs, refusing to support very important measures he has introduced – the Reform of the Security Sector; and Firearms (Amendment) Legislation, that are for the good and benefit of the nation. How does one fathom a situation where the leader of the main Opposition party, a constant critic of the security environment, refuses to support initiatives aimed at remedying the very ills he has so often mentioned?
This has to be an unnatural precedent for the leader of any Opposition party!
Yet again, the refusal to support the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Bill, and the monumental project of the Amaila Falls Hydro Project – the first, perhaps the most critical piece of legislation within modern times; while the second, the most important socio-economic initiative that, when concluded, will effectively cement our modernisation as a nation. Which Opposition that truly represents the aspirations of its country and people that it professes to love, will ever be so anti-national?
Let us as citizens of this beloved country understand this truism: that politics will always be adversarial; but not the type that has to be filled with dangerous grudges, and spiteful intentions, all aimed at impeding national progress.
As citizens of this country, we all have a duty, especially those who are supporters of these two parties, to tell them in a clear loud voice: ‘We will not accept their irresponsible and dangerous acts again in 2014. Enough is Enough!’