The government assumes the parenthood of the entire nation; for all the citizens, whether they voted for them or not. And no matter how old we are, or our religious persuasion, we all still expect and appreciate gifts at Christmas. However, we have a government that is made up of a bunch of tone deaf leaders. I often wonder how is it that Guyana seems perpetually plagued with leaders that never seem to understand that we are the easiest people in the world to please. It does not take much to make Guyanese people happy. Yet both the PPP and the ‘PNC’ Coalition behave in ways that prove that they are just contemptuous with regards to our feelings.
The government just presented their budget and of course, it is larger than the previous one; just like the previous one was larger than the one before. However, what struck me was that the government is touting the work they put-in in bringing a budget this early. The United Republican Party (URP) would love to say that we appreciate the timely budget. But we can’t say that because the budget is not a people’s budget. For one, the URP – like most Guyanese – believed that the reason the public servants were given that arbitrary, measly, anti-union, wage increase a few months ago, was because the Government wanted to surprise the unions and all of us, by gifting us with an additional increase as we entered the festive season and the new year.
But not only did the government not offer a much deserved wage increase, they did not even give their “children” a Christmas bonus! What parent does that?! How could you present a budget at Christmas and not have at least a little Christmas present in it? How anti-festive and Grinch-like can this Government be?
The Minister of State said a few days ago that the budget has brought smiles to the faces of the bulk of the Guyanese people. I would like to ask the Minister were he has found that “bulk” that he referred to. This budget has landed with a thud on the emotions of the Guyanese people. The budget is filled with capital works projects that will see huge contracts going to the families and cronies of the current administration. Additionally, this tone-deaf government has chosen the Christmas season to dole out retrenchment letters and notices of further sugar estate closures. Who does that?! How insensitive must you be to take the most wonderful time of the year and make it the worse time of the year, for so many people? The news of retrenchment is bad at any time of the year but to spring it on folks at a time when everyone is programmed to be happy and joyous, is mean-spirited, cruel and visionless.
The URP will offer its official take on the contents of the budget at a later date. Suffice it to say that we are very disappointed with the structure of the budget. For a government that has observed the failures of the last administration for over a decade. For an administration that swept into power on the backs of the weary and frustrated, ordinary, working-class citizens of this country, we are totally disappointed that this budget offers nothing inspirational or transformational.
To say the least, this budget – while the largest – is the most disappointing one to date. And further, if the same approach of the under utilization of these funds are exhibited, as was seen over the last year, we will come to the end of 2018 just as broken and frustrated, as we are at the end of 2017. Our political parents have disappointed us!

The AFC has inflicted a very serious wound to the likelihood and fate of any third party in Guyana. It took 40 years (after the death of Walter Rodney and the weakening of the WPA), for Guyanese to build the trust in another third party. Yet in just about two years, the AFC has severely hampered the chances at any third party regain the confidence of the Guyanese public. The AFC has even weakened their own chances of attracting the support of new persons, and worse yet, the trust of those whom were once able to convince.

This is not a hallow assumption, we have proven this scientifically. As the United Republican Party (URP) fans out across Guyana in an effort to introduce ourselves to the voters, the constant refrain is “Are ya’ll going to join up with de PPP or PNC like what AFC did?” Not one of our public events or bottom house meetings finishes without someone reminding us of the betrayal of trust that the AFC has deposited in the minds of the swing voters in Guyana.

The URP remains hopeful, however, and it would be less than truthful for me not to admit that what the AFC has done to retard the hopes of any third party in Guyana, is seismic. We are convinced that in order for the URP to win, we have to appeal to the non-racial, non-partisan and non-ideological better spirits of the objective Guyanese. Guyana is way too racially divided and politically ideological for us to expect that voters would be inclined to vote mainly on issues. The jumbies of both Burnham and Jagan are too strong for the voters in Guyana to not be wooed, especially when the PPP and PNC party leaders begin to invoke the spirits of these dead men.

(By the way, Guyana is the only country in the Caribbean that still votes for dead people. Let that sink in for a moment. Cuba and Venezuela are probably our two closest neighbors who follow that practice of party leaders invoking the dead, to win elections. Actually, the practice is steep in communism and dictatorship.)

Like I was saying, the AFC was able to do what no other third party was able to do – they won a sizable amount of seats in parliament. Not even the WPA that was around for such a long time, with such a popular leader, was able to do what the Alliance did. And they were effective because the Guyanese people were literally fed-up with the PPP and the PNC. The founders of the Key-party tapped into a frustration that the Guyanese both locally and in the diaspora were experiencing. There was great push-back when the AFC executive decided to enter talks of forming the Coalition. Many felt that the PNC would swallow up the AFC. Some suggested that the PNC members in the AFC would side with the PNC during tough negations. Others voiced their opinion that the AFC would lose their fresh independence of thought. Now, two years into the deal, all those fears are being realized.  The AFC has shrunken into a struggling party, made up of mostly Government ministers. They have lost their core supporters, particularly the PPP members whom they once attracted. Their sheer spineless inability to maintain their raison d’être is now forcing their worried backers to call for their unhitching from the PNC. We all know that that will not happen; the decision makers in the AFC are all ministers of in this PNC Government. The AFC has severely damaged the chances of any third party but all hopes are not lost.