The United Republican Party (URP) would like to ask the citizens of Guyana – especially the supporters of the Coalition – just one question. Here’s the question: How much more corruption does the Coalition have to engage in before you admit that they are just as corrupt at the PPP? The Guyanese, both locally and from the Diaspora have been hoodwinked into believing that with choosing the Coalition, they were electing the better of the parties. We were sold a manifesto of lies, vagaries, and suppositions. Crime is higher than when the PPP were in power. Accidents on the roads have not abated. More young people are unemployed. More businesses are being forced out of business. The country’s economy is lifeless. And our recently elected officials are steeped in corruption.
The United Republican Party offers itself as an alternative to both the current PNC administration and the previous PPP government. However, we do not offer ourselves because of any vindictive, pie-in-the-sky, reasons. Every Guyanese can take a candid look at the constant and prevailing morasses that have plagued this country over the last 50 years. There is no end to the daily claims of corruption and ineptness. As it regards the PNC, no amount of pressure seems to be getting to the Granger administration. It is as if the PNC and the AFC are locked up in a bubble and sealed tight. From the Joseph Harmon BK/BishanLin trip to China, which he said was primarily to collect the one billion dollars owed to the consolidated fund. (Which we are yet to collect or get an honest explanation for), to the skulduggery of the George Norton bond embezzlement, the PNC have proven their parallel levels of corrupt actions and thinking, and their similar inability to listen to the Guyanese people. What is clear is that apart from some token acts – such as the road repairs, the cleaning of the city, etc – the government is making sure that like the PPP they fill their coffers with the taxpayers’ funds. It is obvious as reflected by the doubling of their salaries and now the constant unexplained financial engagements, that the PNC wants to leave the government with their personal lives fully funded. And just like the PPP they are not concerned about who says what.
Recently the previous Attorney General, Nandalall, said that those PPP crooks who stole from the country cannot be penalized under the new SARU laws. He was careful to note that all stealing in the past are exempt for the new legislation and that the new laws cannot be retroactive in scope. And while he was yet speaking, the current Minister of Public Security, Ramjattan, agreed with him. Only that he (Ramjattan), said it a different way. Minister Ramjattan said that no one wants to testify against those who stole billions of Guyanese dollars from the Country’s treasury. He said that if no witnesses come forward, those who stole all those billions of dollars will get to keep it. The URP sees clearly how the PNC and the PPP are rowing the Guyanese people and taking them for a ride. The PPP said that the laws don’t apply to ‘old’ thieves, while the PNC says no one wants to testify against those old-crooks. What this does, it that it clears the way for the current administration to also fill their coffers with the Guyanese taxpayers money, without any fear of incrimination. All that has to happen is that the word has to get out, that hurt and sever damage will be done to anyone who seeks to testify against the crooks. The PPP has been able to “scare” (according to Minister Khemraj) witnesses off. Therefore, all the PNC has to now do is “scare” their witnesses off.
The corruption in Guyana perpetuated by these two major parties proves a vicious cycle. It is the United Republican Party’s belief that a fresh breed of political minds need to raise to the fore. We cannot any more trust the country to the leadership of the PPP or the PNC. Guyana will remain a hell-hole of fattened political leaders and a chronic under developed populace, if we continue to award the reigns of leadership to the PPP or PNC. For the sake of our children and grand children, for the sake of the holistic development of Guyana, we have to move away from electing the PPP and PNC parties. This is the stated position of the URP and we know that most right-thinking Guyanese support this view.