During the reign of the PPP it seemed like an evil spirit was hovering over the nation of Guyana. Death from murders, accidents, suicides and the like were prevalent. Many people surmised that it was because neither Cheddie, Janette, Bharatt nor Donald, were people of any spiritual anointing. It must be remembered that the PPP has never had a leader who ascribed any reverence to a higher spiritual power. And while Burnham was not a conventional Christian, he did dabble in the spiritual rituals of his African ancestors. Cuffy stands as a permanent testament to Burnham’s religious leanings.
So like I said, there is no PPP leader who ascribes any homage to the creator God. One must then understand that Guyana could never have fully prospered under the PPP. In fact, the high levels of corruption, especially, during the latter 15 years of the PPP’s rule, is also proof solid that the leaders were completely disconnected from the ethical dictates which is the hallmark of one who subscribes to spirituality.
It cannot be denied that the change of government brought an initial breath of fresh air. After the United Republican Party (URP), had invested so much time and money to launch a campaign bid to oust the PPP, I sat on a flight to New York with President-Elect David Granger and promised him our party’s support. Like most people, I too was excited about the change. While I knew that the PNC and the PPP are two pieces of the same cloth, I was hopeful that I was wrong. I was optimistic in my believe that maybe – just maybe – the curse of the racial and corrupt ‘jumbie’ did not contaminate the newly formed coalition.
However, like we can all see on full display, there are no difference in the administrative approaches of the two camps; only that one does not accept that there is a God and hence behaves in a manner which proves it and the other say they believe there is a God but acts in a manner that disproves it. The scandals are now rolling off the Coalition’s machine like coconuts from a Pamaroon truck. The bridge, the Durban Park, the hospital drugs, the drug bond, the walk over and the carriage ways, the oil blocks; the list is lengthy. In just two years, most of the supporters of the Coalition are now admitting that the current administration is a twin to the last one, well, except for their racial make-up.
And the sins of this administration are swiftly catching up with it and the country has now returned to the grip of the racial and corrupts ‘jumbie’. Murders that had shifted to a downward slide are on the rise again. Just like under the other party, our sons have become embolden, again, and have returned to their killing sprees. They are maiming and murdering their victims, no matter their age, vulnerability, nor social value.
The black horse of death has saddled up again in our dear land and he is riding across our country. Suicides that were ticking downwards are now ticking back up. In just two years – just over 24 months – the young Coalition government has been able to sap the expectant and hopeful spirits out of every Guyanese, except for a few of their diehard followers. Don’t take my word for it, ask around. Find out if your friends and family really believe that there is a difference between the two administrations.
Then ask them, “Why is the stench of death and corruption just as high in this so-called, “Godly” dispensation, as it was during the PPP’s ungodly reign. I would not be surprised if your answers point to the fact that money and power have been able to do to the current administration, exactly what it did to the last. Know God or No God.
Just when the Granger administration is angling to take away two billion (Yes. $2,000,000,000) in sugar cane lands from GUYSUCO, in exchange for covering their operational debts, the very Granger administration is pledging to afford free lands (maybe the same GUYSUCO lands) to Trinidadians and other Caribbean residents, displaced by the latest hurricanes. This was the promise made by President Granger, while attending the recent UN meetings, in New York
Editor, let me say on the behalf of my United Republican Party (URP), that I firmly believe that Guyana in under populated and can benefit from an influx of hardworking, intelligent people. May I also say, unequivocally, that I agree with our President, David Granger, that if the Caribbean is ravaged by these and any other disaster and need to move to Guyana – temporally or permanently – they are welcomed and should be accommodated.
However, the political duplicitous act, of taking away lands from your own, while availing the very lands to your neighbors is short sighted. When the locals lands are taken away and given to others, imagine, just for a moment, what kind of sentiments and relationships those folks are likely to have with the people who are the beneficiaries of those said lands.
It is as if the current administration gets illogical when they are on these overseas trips. And I say this because the APNU/AFC members have this way of going to NY and Canada and making all these pie-in-the-sky promising and then when it is time to deliver, they fail miserable. Just about everyone I know who heard the representatives of the Coalition promise a red carpet welcome when coming home, has been nauseatingly disappointed upon their return. Nothing that these ministers say while outside of Guyana to the Diaspora – and many time to those of us in Guyana – can be taken seriously.
However, the folks in the Caribbean and international countries to whom our Government is making these promises of swats of lands are not as docile as the typical Guyanese. The leaders of those countries will take Granger’s words seriously. They will then use those promises as political clout back in their home countries. Our administration will have to then follow through with their promises, or be forced to be internationally embarrassed. So the Government has to be very careful to not be bluffing or ‘mamaguying’ these very desperate people.
So as I conclude, let me return to what the URP has always be suggesting as a way out of this GUYSUCO quagmire. We are suggesting that the Granger administration put together a satisfactory severance package for all the sugar workers. That package should include parcels of lands. The sugar workers will then be able to self-determine what they want to do with their lands. If GUYSUCO is auctioned off and the buyers remain in sugar production, the folks can chose to plant cane. If the new owners want to do fish farming, or soya, or hemp, etc., then the new land owners can chose to invest in those crops. This would be a win-win situation for everyone involved.
We all know that these multi-billion dollar bailouts only benefit the top 10% of the sugar industry, who are paid millions of dollars monthly. And with this new land-for-cash arrangement that the Granger administration is contemplating, very soon GUYSUCO will have no lands with which to settle their personal commitments with those who have spent their entire lives in this industry. The URP is very concerned that if the standoff with the sugar workers is not handled in a timely manner, what happened to the bauxite workers in Linden, will again happen to the sugar workers; they will be left broke and broken, with nothing to show what they have sacrificed to develop this nation.