The Real PNC Manifesto Revealed … And how Moses was Duped
ANYONE who followed the machinations over the last couple of weeks of what was purported to be the APNU + AFC Manifesto, would have been right in concluding that, like the cobbling together of APNU and the AFC, the document displayed little insight into either running the economic affairs of a country, planning for the well-being of Guyanese or negotiating the nuances of good governance. But that has never been what donning the APNU camouflage robes by the Brigadier has been about. APNU was always a diversionary step by the PNC in the ultimate play for power with governance being the unplanned for baggage that comes with the prize.
Rope-a-dope
That is what the Brigadier recognised in Moses also – the desire for power at any cost. So he encouraged Moses’ inflated view of himself and even sat down with him for a friendly game of chess. When Moses emerged he was gloating and beside himself. After all, he had wrested the promise of twelve seats away from the city slicker. He had done this with a party of uncertain prospects which had just half that number at its peak. He had so devastated the Brigadier that the Brigadier capitulated, letting go of a promised Prime Minister-ship and throwing in two Vice-Presidents.
Unfortunately for the country, little does Moses suspect that he was at the wrong end of a classically executed “rope-a-dope” strategy that sports fans know so well, in which the craftier pugilist lays on the ropes and lets the other exhaust himself, then bounces back to take over. Nor does Moses realise the extents to which the Brigadier was prepared to go. What appears on the surface as an expensive gambit by the Brigadier is actually a cheap ploy that snared all the assets of the AFC for some promises that can be dealt with later, and at any rate has an expiry date.
The Brigadier knew that the PNC could never win a fair election on the strength of its membership. With Moses’ hubris blinding him he has been played for a song. The PNC has captured the AFC membership, its coffers, and its apparatus in districts where the PNC has none.
The Brigadier came right down the centre and rode right over Moses, having first completed flanking manoeuvres in which he dissociated himself from the PNC name and legacy with one movement, while holding the country hostage to psychological warfare in another set of economically anti-national moves.
The mop-up, if the rest of the Brigadier’s plan succeeds, would be to fold everything, including the captured assets, all back under the PNC umbrella.
Moses Rescuing the Treasury
PNC Out on a limb
But the fact that not a single ounce of the PNC’s effort has actually gone into assisting the work of bettering the lives of ordinary Guyanese people nor into acquainting themselves with the hard issues of Government is glaringly evident in the recently aired-then-disowned, reconstituted-then-rereleased document by the PNC (APNU + AFC) purporting to be their Manifesto.
Having voted against every transformational project, blocked anti-money legislation, and dismissed financial hardship to ordinary Guyanese as “collateral damage”, APNU + AFC finds themselves out on a limb with no idea of how to take the country forward when it came time for them to display this to the public.
So they unashamedly copied and pasted the very projects they so mindlessly and vociferously lambasted in the past, into what they called their Manifesto. The problem is, that the disciplined thought and cohesion required for real policy formulation could not be copied as easily. Stripped of what has been copied and pasted, the document has no imagination and no clue that they have any idea of how to form an effective Government.
In one section they claim they would reduce the number of ministries, but then in a statement that really reveals what they are all about; they announce that they would install 3 vice-presidents. Even the USA has a single vice-President – this is megalomania gone amok. How would they pay for these extravagances?
According to the rantings of the rope-a-doped Moses, they would “rescue the treasury” from the corrupt incumbent administration that has built up the very same treasury.
The results of years and years of hard work and struggle by the Guyanese people is now under siege by a group who take the country back to primitive living conditions.
Back to Business as Usual Under PNC Regime
If you need further proof of the PNC’s (APNU + AFC) unpreparedness to govern just look back to Carl Greenidge’s tenure as finance minister. Guyana was declared un-creditworthy by the International Monetary Fund. Borrowing costs skyrocketed in the period. For those fortunate enough to get a mortgage the rate was crushing compared 4.5% now as a result of an arrangement between the banks and the Government.
If their plan succeeds, the Brigadier and his finance man, Mr. Greenidge, would take us take us down that road again, with housing affordability skidding beyond the reach of the average household. Having blocked the Amaila Falls hydroelectric project, the Brigadier and Mr. Greenidge now counter proposes that financing for the US$850million be raised locally.
That would dry up credit availability, push interest rates up, and make housing unaffordable. People would be unable to afford their homes and be forced to sell. This would in turn drive down the property value for even those who could pay the mortgage. Other mismanagement and extravagances would kick in. And in a process in which history repeats itself, it would set the stage for taking the country back full circle – postponing nation building for another generation.
