The PPP is doing the same things it has accused the PNC of
Dear Editor, We watched in horror how the PPP has steam rolled its way into city politics with the appointment of Carol Sooba who many believe is unqualified to fill the post as Town Clerk. We are convinced that the PPP does not want local government elections because their margins of defeat are going to be so huge that they will be humiliated. The results will show that the opposition is intact and united, which must give its leaders and members heightened energy to prepare for the 2015 or the 2016 general election. Moreover, they will expose the unsavory truths about this arrogant and uncaring regime which has abandoned the masses, especially the poor and the working class. What are the new ideas of the PPP has? Where is their program to uplift the poor and the working class out of poverty? Those of us looking on from the outside have been asking these questions. But early in the tenure of the Ramotar administration it became quite clear that they had chosen ethnic narcissism over inclusiveness, obeisance to their financiers over meritocracy and evenhandedness, and strict legality over ethical conduct in the way they govern the country. Of course, the electorate has denied them a majority in the 2011 elections for their intolerable excesses and arrogance. These, along with the PPP cabal litany of errors and blatant corrupt practices, have imprisoned them in their sense of entitlement to office. We are convinced that the same things the cabal has accused the PNC of doing during the 1970s and 1980s, they have done worse. The people have not heard or seen any outline of Mr. Ramotar’s program for governance in the two years since he took office. What they have heard was mostly the PPP regime’s energetic condemnation of the opposition for its lack of support and progress in critical areas. Is the PPP thinking that it can prosper on the trend of the people voting along racial lines or for a party with a more credible agenda for change? Is the PPP thinking that it does not have to let the public know about its program? Or is the PPP so pompous that that it does not care what the people think of them? At no time did Mr. Ramotar mention anything about his plans to govern, far less outline one. His focus seemed to be on the state of health of the PPP and, particularly, on the party as a unified monolith. Perhaps for the party faithful that is enough at this point? But is it enough for the voters that really count—the youths, the fence straddlers and the swing voters? Fed up with the deceptions of the PPP cabal, will the electorate vote for a party with no clear agenda for change? Will they be satisfied with the same bunch of politicians who have so far presented themselves as being righteously indignant over much of the conduct of the current cabinet? Will they be satisfied with same regime, given its poor record to solve crime, reduce corruption and drug trafficking, create jobs for the youths, and protect women and children from domestic violence and abuse? Perhaps the most important governance issue facing our democracy is the PPP refusal to call Local Government Elections? Will they? How will they ensure that the people in their various publics and communities constrain the excesses and controversial actions of the executive arm of government? How will they reform the antiquated justice system to ensure that politicians, members of state boards, drug lords, gang leaders, lawyers, doctors, and other big offenders are jailed for their crimes? How will they ensure the growth of the economy? How will they fix the Procurement Commission and the loopholes that encourage bribery and other forms of financial corruption? How will they fix the problem of academic under-performance and indifference among the lower classes in the nation’s public schools? How will they stem the tide of illiteracy and innumeracy among them? How will they end maternal (child births) deaths at the public hospitals? Caught between the two main-parties—one that has disappointed many of their automatic supporters and squandered the goodwill of many of its supporters in the diaspora, with the other re-achieving credibility mainly on the incompetence of its replacement—and the third party, the AFC, which was recently born out of deep disaffection with the PPP and the PNC has not conceded its identity to either them. As such, the AFC is most likely to gain the support of swing voters and the alienated and discontented supporters and members of the two major parties whose appeal is based strictly on race. Thus the AFC has given the voters a third choice. It appears as if the leaders of the two main parties are hiding solutions in their back pockets or bosoms! The country is in dire need of solutions and all the people hear and see from both parties, especially the PPP are posturing and finger pointing. So as far as they are concerned, NONE of the current crop in the ruling cabal or what have you, of politicians and leaders are fit to lead anyone. Guyana needs a new crop of honest dedicated citizens to pull the country out of the gutter, but this will never happen because most are just trying to get their hands on easy money. How sad! So all they will keep doing is keep shuffling chairs on the Titanic. This is a definition of madness, the people keep doing the same things the same way over and over again, but they expect to get different results even though they see failure over and over again. For example, every election year the people allow the political parties to fool them with beautifully designed manifestos outlining their policies and their plans. They get the best experts (usually foreign) to put forward their beautiful plans and policies. It’s the difference between propaganda and the reality—the word and the deed. What they promise and what the people actually get. If one look at the PPP 2011 manifesto, it looked all right, nice glossy pictures, with promises that everything is going to be great, everyone will rise. That is pure propaganda, but what about the actuality? The only things that did rise are crime (murders and armed robbery), corruption, and drug trafficking and food and transportation prices. Dr. Asquith Rose and Harish Singh.
