People are struggling in Guyana today, we need relief now.

People are struggling in Guyana today, we need relief now
October 4, 2011 | By KNews Letters

Dear Editor,

After nineteen continuous years in office, PPP General Secretary and Presidential candidate, Donald Ramotar, on Sunday promised more infrastructure development and pledged to modernize Guyana.

On the surface these are the type of promises that we have grown to expect from politicians on the hustings. However coming from an incumbent party there is cause for more questions than answers.

For the labourers and unemployed in the crowd at Albion where was the empathy? After loyally voting the cup for over fifty years, supporters of the party were promised more roads instead of jobs and better paying jobs. Third generation PPP supporters who cut cane and do menial labour were promised a modern Guyana.
Mr. Ramotar showed us at Albion that he and his party just don’t get it.

Yes, we all yearn for modernity, but first we want to better the human condition, and that can only come from a change in our environment and a change in our economics.

When a cane cutter has to strike for a few dollars more, while the well connected and the relatives and friends of the political bosses at Freedom House enjoy no-bid contracts and drive around the country flaunting their wealth, new roads don’t sound so good.

When a working man with a family of four is forced to live on $40,000 a month, from which he must pay $20,000 in rent; purchase chicken at $360 per pound; rice at $800; plantain at $140 per pound and flour at $260 for a two-pound bag. Add to that light bill that will run anywhere from $3000 to $5000, transportation cost, 16%VAT and 33% PAYE… he couldn’t care less about a new road to nowhere. People want good and better paying jobs and they want to be able to keep more of what they earn.

What we heard from the PPP Presidential candidate was more of the tax and spend reckless governance that has been a trade mark of this administration for the past nineteen years.

People want to feel safe, they want to see something done about the crime situation, they want a lower cost of living, they want better teachers for their children and schools that produce scholars and not dropouts.

A modern Guyana means nothing if it is not accompanied by a modern and reliable electrical grid and an end to blackouts. A modern Guyana means nothing if it is achieved by further taxing the already over-taxed Guyanese worker.
A modern Guyana will mean absolutely nothing to the small man if he continues to be a mere spectator to progress, condemned to a life of poverty – a second class citizen in his own land.

This private club that masquerades as the PPP and on occasion gives lip service to workers’ rights, does not represent the small man. PPP supporters and sympathizers must not be fooled by the glitz and glamour of the staged events. Look at the miserable conditions that this government, which claims to represent you, has forced you to live in.

Look at the garbage-clogged drains, the undrinkable water coming from your taps, the deplorable secondary roads filled with potholes, the constant coastal flooding, the un-employment, the crime, the moral decay of our young people, and ask yourself; is this what I voted for? Is this the Guyana I want for me and my family?

At Albion, the PPP rolled out Joseph ‘Joe’ Hamilton, a former PNC member, who was quick to criticize his former colleagues, but it backfired, because Hamilton is not a household name, like Nagamootoo, Chandarpal and Ramkarran, all well known representatives of the working man and woman in Guyana, and all of whom were notably absent from the big show at Albion.

The carnival atmosphere with the paid performers and bussed and trucked-in crowds worked wonders for the spin masters, but at the end of the day you cannot run a country on spin and propaganda. These are serious times and instead of addressing serious issues the leaders of the PPP asked their supporters to go home and remind the young people of a time when things were tough. Note to Ramotar and Jagdeo; things are tough now!

People are struggling in Guyana today, we need relief now. We cannot eat roads and bridges; we want jobs, we want less taxation and better representation. We want an end to one-party rule. Nineteen is enough we want change!
Mark Archer