NOTHING IS EVER FREE!
SEPTEMBER 20, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER FEATURES / COLUMNISTS, PEEPING TOM
No one expects the opposition parties to admit that Guyana is enjoying its best days ever and that the standard of living in Guyana is the highest it has ever been.
True there are poor persons in Guyana. But there are also poor people in the United States of America. In fact, some 15 per cent of the population of that country, considered one of the richest in the world, lives below their poverty line. That is a staggering statistic.
Guyana’s poverty rate has not been quantified for some time but based on the progress that has been made since the last income and expenditure survey, the poverty rate in Guyana should be below 15 per cent.
Yet doomsday scenarios are being painted about what is taking place in Guyana. And this has to be accepted as part of the competition for political power.
There are politicians in the opposition who have sat and watched the developments in Guyana. They have seen the investments in roads, in schools, in health centres. They have seen the fact that many Guyanese now live under their own roofs and many are living in better homes.
They pass by the fast food outlets and the restaurants and they see them filled at weekends. They see Guyanese enjoying themselves at the watering holes and at the creeks in weekend. They see the vast increase in possessions by citizens including the fact that even the poor now own cars.
Of course not everything is right. There are serious problems with corruption. Education standards are still high even though the older generation like to fool themselves that in their day things were better.
No student in the old days was coming out of secondary school with fifteen distinctions, and one child who got fifteen subjects this year did not attend any extra lessons, thereby debunking the myth that these superior performances are solely attributable to lessons. But there are problems in education and better teachers are needed, particularly in the schools in the countryside.
The lines at the hospital are longer not because people are getting sicker but because the service, while still leaving much to be desired, has improved so much so that people are accessing these services. You see the same at private hospitals.
There remain problems with the remuneration of workers, especially in critical areas of national security and health, and the government bureaucracy is still too large and tests the patience of citizens.
Within the government there is a serious problem with corruption, and grave concerns about the manner in which certain awards are made. This is sore area and one that is of great concern. But generally, Guyana is enjoying its best days ever.
There are many things which can still be improved upon and which citizens must impress about the government the need for such improvement. Citizens have to always ensure that the government is responsive to reasonable demands and one way in which they ensure this is through regular elections since in these elections, the citizens can decide whether the government has been responsive enough
The opposition parties are there to egg the citizens on to bring about democratic change.
The opposition parties are part of a political process. They want to get power. This is what politics is about. It is all about power. The opposition politics want to be the leadership of the country.
But they have to learn also that you cannot always win. That sometimes the odds are stacked against you. Sometimes, the ruling party is riding a wave of progress and popularity and therefore even your best effort as an opposition is never going to be good enough because the circumstances at particular times are not amenable to change. There is not likely to be a change in government this year. The opposition parties know this, but they have to enter the elections optimistic that they will do well and try to gain as many seats as they can.
They have to convince voters that they, are a better alternative even as they know that they are not going to win.
One of the ways in which they may try to convince the people to side with them is to paint a picture of desolation and gloom in the country.
And so you may hear from time to time opposition parties speaking about deprivation in Guyana.
In fact APNU has indicated that the monies used for the Day of Appreciation for President Jagdeo, would have been better deployed towards easing the deprivation in the country. Yes they used the world “deprivation”!
Yet this same party is hoping to raise $1.2 billion dollars from the deprived population for its election coffers.
If Guyana is so deprived where are Guyanese businessmen and citizens going to find $1.2 billion just to allow the APNU to win the election. Where is this $1.2 billion coming from. Certainly, it cannot be coming from this “deprived” economy and its poor citizens.
It is not going to come from overseas. In fact by now most political parties should know that the monies they will receive from overseas-based Guyanese will not take their campaigns very far.
So the bulk of campaign financing has to come from local businesses and citizens. And we know which side local businesses will be on, and since the opposition believes that there is great deprivation in Guyana and therefore it is not likely that the opposition can raise US$1 million much less a significant part of six million US dollars in Guyana.
So where is APNU going to raise this money? Are foreign corporate interests going to contribute?
Those within APNU should be careful with foreign donors because it is known that while they are generous, after the elections, they come looking for their payback.
Nothing is ever free!
SEPTEMBER 20, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER FEATURES / COLUMNISTS, PEEPING TOM
No one expects the opposition parties to admit that Guyana is enjoying its best days ever and that the standard of living in Guyana is the highest it has ever been.
True there are poor persons in Guyana. But there are also poor people in the United States of America. In fact, some 15 per cent of the population of that country, considered one of the richest in the world, lives below their poverty line. That is a staggering statistic.
Guyana’s poverty rate has not been quantified for some time but based on the progress that has been made since the last income and expenditure survey, the poverty rate in Guyana should be below 15 per cent.
Yet doomsday scenarios are being painted about what is taking place in Guyana. And this has to be accepted as part of the competition for political power.
There are politicians in the opposition who have sat and watched the developments in Guyana. They have seen the investments in roads, in schools, in health centres. They have seen the fact that many Guyanese now live under their own roofs and many are living in better homes.
They pass by the fast food outlets and the restaurants and they see them filled at weekends. They see Guyanese enjoying themselves at the watering holes and at the creeks in weekend. They see the vast increase in possessions by citizens including the fact that even the poor now own cars.
Of course not everything is right. There are serious problems with corruption. Education standards are still high even though the older generation like to fool themselves that in their day things were better.
No student in the old days was coming out of secondary school with fifteen distinctions, and one child who got fifteen subjects this year did not attend any extra lessons, thereby debunking the myth that these superior performances are solely attributable to lessons. But there are problems in education and better teachers are needed, particularly in the schools in the countryside.
The lines at the hospital are longer not because people are getting sicker but because the service, while still leaving much to be desired, has improved so much so that people are accessing these services. You see the same at private hospitals.
There remain problems with the remuneration of workers, especially in critical areas of national security and health, and the government bureaucracy is still too large and tests the patience of citizens.
Within the government there is a serious problem with corruption, and grave concerns about the manner in which certain awards are made. This is sore area and one that is of great concern. But generally, Guyana is enjoying its best days ever.
There are many things which can still be improved upon and which citizens must impress about the government the need for such improvement. Citizens have to always ensure that the government is responsive to reasonable demands and one way in which they ensure this is through regular elections since in these elections, the citizens can decide whether the government has been responsive enough
The opposition parties are there to egg the citizens on to bring about democratic change.
The opposition parties are part of a political process. They want to get power. This is what politics is about. It is all about power. The opposition politics want to be the leadership of the country.
But they have to learn also that you cannot always win. That sometimes the odds are stacked against you. Sometimes, the ruling party is riding a wave of progress and popularity and therefore even your best effort as an opposition is never going to be good enough because the circumstances at particular times are not amenable to change. There is not likely to be a change in government this year. The opposition parties know this, but they have to enter the elections optimistic that they will do well and try to gain as many seats as they can.
They have to convince voters that they, are a better alternative even as they know that they are not going to win.
One of the ways in which they may try to convince the people to side with them is to paint a picture of desolation and gloom in the country.
And so you may hear from time to time opposition parties speaking about deprivation in Guyana.
In fact APNU has indicated that the monies used for the Day of Appreciation for President Jagdeo, would have been better deployed towards easing the deprivation in the country. Yes they used the world “deprivation”!
Yet this same party is hoping to raise $1.2 billion dollars from the deprived population for its election coffers.
If Guyana is so deprived where are Guyanese businessmen and citizens going to find $1.2 billion just to allow the APNU to win the election. Where is this $1.2 billion coming from. Certainly, it cannot be coming from this “deprived” economy and its poor citizens.
It is not going to come from overseas. In fact by now most political parties should know that the monies they will receive from overseas-based Guyanese will not take their campaigns very far.
So the bulk of campaign financing has to come from local businesses and citizens. And we know which side local businesses will be on, and since the opposition believes that there is great deprivation in Guyana and therefore it is not likely that the opposition can raise US$1 million much less a significant part of six million US dollars in Guyana.
So where is APNU going to raise this money? Are foreign corporate interests going to contribute?
Those within APNU should be careful with foreign donors because it is known that while they are generous, after the elections, they come looking for their payback.
Nothing is ever free!