The AFC is destined to be the party in Guyana with the greatest meteoric rise and fall. And to think that they had the objective, intelligent, independent voters eating out of their hands. The AFC – when once it finds the objective fortitude – will look back and admit that their cuddling with the PNC was the worst possible thing they could have done. Not that the Accord was in itself a death-nail to the AFC but the way the party behaved since agreeing to the Accord, is what has killed them.
Imagine that they voted to side with the PNC on this latest budget, when they knew that it would negatively affect the fledging middle-class in Guyana. They approved a budget that imposed austere measures on the very group of people that the AFC needs to support them. And it was not even as if the tax impositions were necessary. There was no reason to tax water and light and the AFC should have objected to that, just like the PNC objected to raising the electrical tariffs on Linden, during the PPP days.
Why I say that the tax on electricity and water are austere, is because we all know that the companies will pass those taxes right along to the consumers. So what AFC agreed to by supporting the PNC taxes, is a double and triple taxation on the citizens of Guyana. The question the AFC needs to ask is this, Has the average Guyanese seen any benefits from the reduction of VAT from 16% to 14%? And the answer is a resounding “NO!” In fact, all the basic commodities have gone up in price. The venders and business owners have simply added a 20% increase on all their items and simply tell the consumers that the disproportional increases are because of VAT. The AFC seems to have forgotten who put them there (as an independent party). We all know that the PNC is a political leopard; unable to change her spots, so no one really expected any kind of prolonged, nationalistic and patriotic change from them.
When the PNC folks doubled their salaries, Moses Nagamootoo and the AFC said that they were opposed to it. However, Mr. Nagamootoo was mostly silent on the matter, even in the face of seismic public outcry. He remained silent until he could keep it in no longer and he embarrassed himself publicly in Parliament, by accusing the PPP of living on fat-cat salaries, when they were in power. When the PNC added VAT to education, Moses Nagamootoo and the AFC were again not in favor of it but they again remained silent.
Now that the electoral earth is showing signs of shifting, the AFC is now belatedly, pretending to have found their voice. All of a sudden they want a review of the VAT on the minds of our Guyanese children. They did the very same thing with the parking meter saga. They allowed the PNCites to virtually gut Deputy Mayor, Mr. Duncan; calling him all kinds of names and wising the worse for him. Then when the winds of opposition to the parking meter became gale force, the AFC pretended that Mr. Duncan was always their horse in the race.
There is yet another storm brewing. The AFC bigwigs, Khemraj, Nigel, Patterson and several of the rank and file members have publically stated that there should be a review of the draconian sentencing of our youths for usage and possession of marijuana. The United Republican Party (URP) thinks that it is a commonsensical suggestion. A reduction in the arbitrary legislated sentencing of young people – mostly Black boys – will have a number of positive spinoffs. The courts will deal with the matters in a more timely manner, therefore they will reduce their backlogs. The prisons will have fewer inmates, thereby reducing their overcrowding. More particularly, those caught offending can be handed non-custodial sentences and diverted to counseling and remedial substance abuse programs. The government can them offer a stipend to the counseling centers, which would amount to much less than it is costing to house and feed these individuals in our penal institutions. This is also the posture of several other developed and developing countries.
However, we now the default leader of the country, Mr. Joseph Harmon, saying that there will be no easing of the penalties for those caught with even miniscule amounts of ganja. He is quoted as saying that this is not the priority of the Government. Has Mr. Harmon forgotten that the Communingsberg Accord states that the AFC is a part of the Guyana Government? As yet, there is not a whisper from the AFC camp on one of the few legislations that they have crafted.
Please note that the URP is not suggesting a decriminalization of marijuana. What we are suggesting is that there should be a review of the sentencing guidelines for those held with negligible amounts of weed. There must me some common ground.
Editor, I bet you that when the picketing starts and the country comes out in favor of commonsense marijuana legislation, that the AFC will then find their voice. I hope, therefore, is that now that the URP has pointed this out, the AFC will address it, ahead of the national furor. Let’s see if they have the capacity to be politically proactive.
The current 1980 Burnham Constitution was forced upon the people of Guyana through a rigged referendum. Back in those days, everything the PNC did was through some rigged system. The PPP begged the international community to intervene and after 28 arduous years, Guyana got the change she was badly seeking.
Then rather than change the vicious Burnham Constitution, the PPP wrapped themselves in it and bullied their way into the Guyanese psyche for another 23 years. Jagdeo, in particular, used the vagaries and autocratic allowance in the constitution to be as ungodly and vile as he can be. The suffering that Guyana has found its self in until today, can be traced directly to the intent of Burnham, as drafted into the constitution.
Now almost 40 years later, the PNC has struck again. This time with a bill that will turn into the Sword of Zoro, in the hands of Jagdeo. The saying goes: He who forgets the past is destined to repeat it. And the PNC seems to forget their past. The SARU bill should have been sent to a small committee so that the Opposition could have had their input. Not that the government had to acquiesce to them but it would have given the process and the bill transparency.
The PNC-Coalition was given the mandate to investigate, arrest, and jail all those found guilty of stealing the People’s money. It was one of the APNU/AFC’s campaign promises. However, half of the country believes Jadgeo’s lies that the PPP Ministers all became wealthy – like him – by honest means. Even some of the Indian supporters who were reduced to paupers and beggars, while the Freedom House cronies bought, stole, build and expanded, still believe that Jagdeo’s behavior is as pure as the wind driven snow.
So anything the government does will first be opposed by this large segment of the population. It is incumbent on the administration, therefore, to make every move against the PPP crooks as above board as possible. And it was indeed possible to send that SARU bill to a sub-committee. The reluctance of the government to have the bill discussed and scrutinized by a small committee, or to allow for the full debate on the bill is very telling.
It seems that the granger administration is running against the clock. After two years they have not proven to the Guyanese people that the PPP did anything worthy of criminal charges. Now they have just about another year left before the election cycle gets into full swing. So they are desperate to make good on their promise to arrest and jail some of the PPP’s top brass.
However, this bill that they forced through, might well backfire on them. Already Jagdeo is noising abroad that Granger’s men are crooks, too. He has made several calls for them to declare their assets and they have refused. Their campaign promise of a Code of Ethics – which was a part of their 100-days pledge – has not been fulfilled; even after two years. Joe Harmon, Dr. George Norton, Volda Lawerence, Raphel Trotman, David Patterson and a few others are some of the Ministers that Jagdeo has in this crosshairs.
If Granger’s administration loses the next election, Jagdeo will put this SARU bill to full use. The PNC-Coalition members would have no rest under the PPP with the passage of this bill. One only has to reflect how Jagdeo used Mr. Satar and GRA to harass and intimidate his opponents. The personal records of citizens who opposed the PPP, were leaked to the media, duty-free concessions and remigrant waivers were threatened. This bill will be used against all Guyanese. This monstrosity of a bill gives the SARU director unfettered leverage, one can only imagine what a character like Jagdeo would do with it.
That is why the United Republican Party (URP), would like to go on record in stating that it was a huge mistake and gross shortsightedness for the PNC-Coalition to ram this bill through the Parliament. Any undue consequences the citizens of this country face because of this autocratic and politically motivated act, will be laid squarely at the feet of those who were selfish and narrow-minded enough to not see the detriment of this bill.
Mr. Granger had better hope that the bill does what their shorted-sighted vision intends for it to do, or it will be hell to pay should the prevailing winds blow in 2020. As Anil Nandall (former AG) said in his comment about the bill, “Therein, lies who will have the last laugh.”