Dear Editor,

The general justification from this Government on their generous salary increase is based largely on a promise of “good to come”, “efficiency”, and that the “[People’s Progressive Party/Civic] PPP/C took more”. I will challenge the President that his reasoning to the people of Guyana is not right and must accept the backlash of his action. The true nature of this increase is based mainly on greed and a reactionary tone to the previous Government.  It is also based on insecurity of the sitting Government who feels that they must “grab” their share from the common Guyanese before their time runs out. As a historian, the President is very much aware of the fallacy rooted in his justification to us. The actions of A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) are not new; it is the very behaviour I and others warned of, prior to the May 11 election. A behaviour that was critically illustrated by Walter Rodney and we can argue that it is that illustration that may have led to Rodney’s untimely demise.  According to Rodney, our Government – in those days, the People’s National Congress (PNC) –sought to acquire their wealth on the backs of the working class, they are simply mirroring the behaviour of their colonial masters, who would have gained wealth on our backs prior to, and after, our Government took form. The supporters of APNU/AFC have to understand that they were used, betrayed and ultimately deceived into this situation. It is a strategy that is rooted in the core apparatus of the PNC base that controls this current Government. From the time of our independence to this day, Guyana has always suffered from the exploitation of the so called upper class, which has always preyed upon the working and poorer classes, regardless of racial identity. The President, who is a historian by profession, know  these things to be true and factual, however he still made his decision to support a greedy reactionary group of politicians as they start the ball of exploitation and suppression in our country. I will admit that the so called upper class in the PPP/C base is in many ways guilty of the same practice; however, the only time in Guyana’s history, where the working and poorer classes saw real development, was with the PPP/C Government. The President should know better than to tell us the pay increase is to drive efficiency among his top brass, when they campaigned on rhetoric of servant leadership and liberating people out of poverty. Then if there is so much poverty that they spoke of, where are they getting all this money from? And where is the servant leadership that the President tends to portray in his public demeanor? I would dare to challenge this President by saying that if he really wants to see efficiency, they would be forfeiting their increases and spread it among the public servants who are working for less than $65,000 monthly, followed by a performance monitoring system that will ensure efficiency from the bottom up. The inflated number of Ministers, Vice Presidents and the President is expected to lead without laying the burden of their lavish lifestyles on the backs of working and poorer classes. Once again this Government is attempting to suppress the voices of the new generation of Rodney in Guyana by creating a false image of hope, when they are the ones that will reap the benefits as they watch the others suffer.

Yours Truly, Malcolm Watkins, CSCP