Supreme political power lies in the hands of the people
Dear Editor,
In this election year, the people do not appear to be impressed with the extremely poor performance of the minority PPP regime, especially the president and his Finance Minister who continues to use the foreign reserves to compensate for the shortfall in income from exports. The Minister’s track record has been far from stellar in that he continues to spend the public’s money without the approval of Parliament. This has led to a lack of confidence and trust of the PPP regime by the people which is critical in this election time.
The reality of politics is that when one becomes a minister, he or she offers himself/ herself for service and is therefore open to public scrutiny. During the past three years, the PPP cabal has not made themselves available to answer the questions put to them by the people’s opposition. It seems that the president and the minister of Finance are ducking the issue of the financing of the Marriott Hotel and the use of over US$200 million from the foreign reserves between 2012 and 2014. The excuse offered by Minister of Finance for the reduction of the funds in the foreign reserves is flawed and before he lectures Moses Nagamootoo about the country’s finances, he should come clean and tell the people the truth as to why he secretly spent US$ 226 million from the foreign reserves. After all, this is the taxpayers’ money, therefore an explanation is owed to them.
This election has given the citizens an opportunity to assess the poor performance of the Minister of Finance and the entire cabinet before casting a vote for them. There are several unanswered questions as to why the Marriott Hotel is financed with the taxpayers’ money when hotel occupancy rate in Guyana is at 50 percent. It is the view of many including supporters of the PPP, that it had to do with Jagdeo spitefulness against Mr. Badal who bought the Pegasus Hotel by outbidding Jagdeo and his friends. So the building of the Marriott Hotel is seen as revenge against the owner of Pegasus.
In Guyana for the past ten years, life has become unbearable for the masses. The people especially the poor and the working class have to lie to themselves because of their plight. An honest appraisal of their bellies and bank accounts would lead most of them to serious depression and perhaps suicide, so they enchant themselves with the comfortable falsehoods that their life is rich and that they are blessed. They also say that inner beauty is what matters, despite the fact that they are living from pay check to pay check. They continue to hope for the best even though income inequality and wealth in Guyana have widened and is worse than in Haiti. And they comfort themselves with the false hopes and beliefs that poverty can be overcome in the face of dispiriting evidence to the contrary. It is obvious to most that in Guyana, supreme political power lies in the hands of the bullies at Freedom House who use it to protect their own financial interests and those of their friends and relatives. But the reality is supreme political power resides with the people and they should use that power to elect a government on May 11that will take Guyana forward and improve their living standards.
Clearly, in the context of Guyana, what the people want is decent paying jobs to take care of their families and a government that will protect the rights of everyone whether they voted for the PPP or not. If they are to use this criteria then they should elect an AFC/APNU coalition government that will create jobs and protect their rights irrespective of their political affiliations. But if they vote for the PPP again, then they should expect to receive the same treatment as party allegiance will be ruthlessly enforced and a larger section of the population will be marginalized.
With the population at its most angry, confused and financially dispossessed as it has never been before; it would be more than interesting to determine if on May 11, that anger will result in more people electing to vote against the PPP or refusing to vote.
With the ruling PPP regime operating on the basis that it only needs to listen to itself and not to the people, the party is rapidly losing support throughout the country. For the PPP cabal to say that the economy is in good shape does not resonate with the people, especially the poor and the working class who continues to struggle to make ends meet. The anger is blatantly without pretense and it is growing. The life of the poor has become unbearable but that can change because supreme political power lies in the hands of the people who can vote the PPP out of office on May 11.
Dr. Asquith Rose, Chandra Deolall, Dr. Merle Spenser-Marks.
In this election year, the people do not appear to be impressed with the extremely poor performance of the minority PPP regime, especially the president and his Finance Minister who continues to use the foreign reserves to compensate for the shortfall in income from exports. The Minister’s track record has been far from stellar in that he continues to spend the public’s money without the approval of Parliament. This has led to a lack of confidence and trust of the PPP regime by the people which is critical in this election time.
The reality of politics is that when one becomes a minister, he or she offers himself/ herself for service and is therefore open to public scrutiny. During the past three years, the PPP cabal has not made themselves available to answer the questions put to them by the people’s opposition. It seems that the president and the minister of Finance are ducking the issue of the financing of the Marriott Hotel and the use of over US$200 million from the foreign reserves between 2012 and 2014. The excuse offered by Minister of Finance for the reduction of the funds in the foreign reserves is flawed and before he lectures Moses Nagamootoo about the country’s finances, he should come clean and tell the people the truth as to why he secretly spent US$ 226 million from the foreign reserves. After all, this is the taxpayers’ money, therefore an explanation is owed to them.
This election has given the citizens an opportunity to assess the poor performance of the Minister of Finance and the entire cabinet before casting a vote for them. There are several unanswered questions as to why the Marriott Hotel is financed with the taxpayers’ money when hotel occupancy rate in Guyana is at 50 percent. It is the view of many including supporters of the PPP, that it had to do with Jagdeo spitefulness against Mr. Badal who bought the Pegasus Hotel by outbidding Jagdeo and his friends. So the building of the Marriott Hotel is seen as revenge against the owner of Pegasus.
In Guyana for the past ten years, life has become unbearable for the masses. The people especially the poor and the working class have to lie to themselves because of their plight. An honest appraisal of their bellies and bank accounts would lead most of them to serious depression and perhaps suicide, so they enchant themselves with the comfortable falsehoods that their life is rich and that they are blessed. They also say that inner beauty is what matters, despite the fact that they are living from pay check to pay check. They continue to hope for the best even though income inequality and wealth in Guyana have widened and is worse than in Haiti. And they comfort themselves with the false hopes and beliefs that poverty can be overcome in the face of dispiriting evidence to the contrary. It is obvious to most that in Guyana, supreme political power lies in the hands of the bullies at Freedom House who use it to protect their own financial interests and those of their friends and relatives. But the reality is supreme political power resides with the people and they should use that power to elect a government on May 11that will take Guyana forward and improve their living standards.
Clearly, in the context of Guyana, what the people want is decent paying jobs to take care of their families and a government that will protect the rights of everyone whether they voted for the PPP or not. If they are to use this criteria then they should elect an AFC/APNU coalition government that will create jobs and protect their rights irrespective of their political affiliations. But if they vote for the PPP again, then they should expect to receive the same treatment as party allegiance will be ruthlessly enforced and a larger section of the population will be marginalized.
With the population at its most angry, confused and financially dispossessed as it has never been before; it would be more than interesting to determine if on May 11, that anger will result in more people electing to vote against the PPP or refusing to vote.
With the ruling PPP regime operating on the basis that it only needs to listen to itself and not to the people, the party is rapidly losing support throughout the country. For the PPP cabal to say that the economy is in good shape does not resonate with the people, especially the poor and the working class who continues to struggle to make ends meet. The anger is blatantly without pretense and it is growing. The life of the poor has become unbearable but that can change because supreme political power lies in the hands of the people who can vote the PPP out of office on May 11.
Dr. Asquith Rose, Chandra Deolall, Dr. Merle Spenser-Marks.
