“Because We Care” is a big political gimmick and an insult to parents
DEAR EDITOR,
The “Because We Care” Cash Grant initiative should be renamed “Because we couldn’t care less!” The latter slogan is befitting and definitely in sync with the actions, thinking and motives of those involved in this despicable political gimmick. I have consistently argued that the PPP/C government has no respect for the Guyanese people hence they perpetrate the kinds of insulting and disrespectful acts on the people.
The entire “Because we don’t care” operation, is teeming with contempt towards Guyanese. The government began this charade with banners placed at strategic locations on the public highways. These banners ushered in the spate of contempt the entire project breeds. Those who see themselves as the “masters” of the land, parade themselves on the banners in a most comical fashion.
I wonder how much of taxpayers’ money was used to produce these PPP political street-hangers. Secondly, was the money paid to produce these banners approved by the parliament? Was the production of these political promotional banners identified as a line item in the 2014 budget or was it a budgeted item associated with the requisite grant?
Whatever the answer to these questions, it is clear that all is not above board. The Parliamentary Accounts or Ethics Committee must, as of necessity, meet to investigate this scam. The entire roll out of this project exposes a deliberate and orchestrated attempt by the government to insult the people, in particular ordinary Guyanese parents.
How can a government blatantly engage in a mission to denigrate, mistreat and exploit the intelligence and dignity of its own people in such unashamed fashion? How can this government even attempt to fool people into believing that their, the people’s own, taxpaying dollars are nothing but gifts from this insipid regime?
People should be reminded that the money they receive or will be receiving is their own. The Ministry of Education is merely responsible for executing that which was approved by the parliament. However, this project has deliberately turned out to be a PPP/C political campaign tool. Parents should know that the $10,000 they receive is not, like the Minister of Education wants them to believe, some act of benevolence on the part of the PPP/C regime.
People must be reminded that their representatives in the parliament voted to ensure that they get back $10,000 of their taxpaying dollars to cushion the high cost of living they continue to experience as a result of realities such as; the back-breaking VAT, low wages, high levels of unemployment, among other damning socio-economic and political actualities.
As if the public billboards and posters were not enough, the regime and the Minister of Education have decided that they will employ a most humiliating process for the distribution of the people’s money. So head teachers and school districts are asked to organize elaborate ceremonies where the special guests are entertained as our children are made to perform for them. The “masters” then make their campaign speeches to the largely unsuspecting audience who will later find their portrait in a PPP election campaign commercial.
The pomposity of these people knows no boundary. Recall a few weeks ago when they landed in a hinterland community, children and parents were cajoled into ushering them from the airstrip and planting garlands around the necks of these modern day massas. All this the people are told they must do before they can collect their own money. What lunacy and insolence!
The travesty continued last weekend when scores of parents of children who attend school in a certain section of Georgetown were rounded up into the National Park to participate in this big sham. My information is that parents were waiting in line from as early as 8:30 am, braving the hot mid-morning and mid-day sun to collect their own money.
According to some parents, the sun’s heat was so unbearable that there were instances of fainting spells. Since the organizers seem to have had their focus on the propaganda aspect of the charade rather than the distribution, there was no clear procedure for distributing the money, as focus constantly changed from one method to another.
The fact is the entire episode was uncalled for and was merely done to humiliate and disrespect both parents and school administrators, all in the interest of making a PPP political commercial.
Why should a government treat its people in such a belittling manner? I do not know! However, what I can say is that such acts are symptomatic of a brutal, dictatorial communist regime whose main political strategy is to perpetrate those acts on the people, which it feels will be sufficient to beat the people into subjection and to make them feel less than worthy.
It is a way of attempting to negatively affect the way one sees him or herself, a strategy designed to have a negative effect on self-confidence, self-worth and self-esteem. Their mission is to make the people see the PPP/C leaders as deities, whom the people must be made to worship and depend on for their every survival.
Parents were made to stand in the boiling mid-day sun listening to “what parents are experiencing never happened in more than 20 years”, and that they should be happy that they “will get more food on the table”. Utter contempt!
When one believes that the attempt at humiliation of the parents ended at the National Park, it took an even more repugnant turn. So, after listening to the PPP/C’s political talking points by the various speechmakers, parents were then given a piece of paper to take to Western Union to cash in, in order to receive the measly $10,000.
As I watched the lines at Western Union stretched from the cashier’s counter to almost a block up the street my heart sunk. Again, I asked myself how can a government which says it cares about its people be so inhuman and callous towards these very people. Why must we exploit ordinary Guyanese in such brutal ways? Shouldn’t this money be distributed via a more decent process or in a more civilized manner? Why display our people’s obvious needs in such a distasteful public fashion?
The fact is, the government is aware that the people need this money, since they continue to struggle every day in this cash-strapped, jobless and uninspiring economy. It’s no secret that parents are struggling every day. I applaud every parent who continues to do his/her best to ensure that the children go to school every day despite the many odds.
I recalled my days as a teacher, under this very regime, when I had no alternative but to allow 13-year-old students to sleep for at least half an hour, in the classroom, because they were out late running errands or working in order to help supplement their parents’ income. There were many times when all I asked is that they show up to school and I would ensure that they got a bus fare to return home.
Yes, we had a contract of “you show up I will take care of the rest.” So, I understand the need for this $10,000 but parents are not interested in hand-outs, they want opportunities to earn a decent living and to provide adequately for their families.
It is time we stop promoting a culture of “pauperism” and focus on creating real jobs for ordinary people. Currently the deck is stacked against ordinary Guyanese, as only those who are associated with the regime seem to be able to achieve, albeit it in some of the most questionable ways.
Let’s face facts, $10,000 Guyana dollars is a one-time spending in an economy where cost of living continues to be a challenge for 99% of the people. Check the cost of a 5-lb tin of milk and calculate how many tins that $10,000 can buy, check the cost of 1lb chicken and see how much chicken a parent can buy to feed a family of four. The fact is the money is a one-time meal, nothing more. So, for the “Because We Care” promoters to impute otherwise is not only disingenuous, but insulting to the intelligence of the parents and the nation.
My final comment on this “because we couldn’t care less” campaign will focus on the method of distributing the money. Any sensible government, which respects its people would ensure that a project like this be executed at the level of the school and not on a public political campaign stage. Is the government saying to the school administrations that they do not trust them and their staff to distribute this money?
I guarantee that had the roll out of this project happened at the level of the school there would have been less confusion than what took place at the National Park. Further, distributing the money at the level of the school would ensure that parents are taken care of in a more respectable manner. The process would have also been smoother and less time consuming. It would also be important to know whether the head teachers and teachers who were involved in last Saturday’s National Park political gimmick were compensated for their time.
If they have not, then the relevant authorities must provide an explanation as to why these educators were not paid for their time, when others were compensated.
The roll out of this project has exposed the despotic nature of the PPP/C regime and helps to explain the psyche of the government. The concern for our children is never the focus. The entire “because we care” campaign is nothing but a big political gimmick and an insult to parents.
Lurlene Nestor
