Dear Editor,
With hours away from citizens going to the polls, who they vote for will determine, perhaps for the first time, the road that all of us must traverse. What we do on Monday September 1 will determine whether we bequeath to our children and their children a country that is free, wholesome, united and will make optimum use of our fantastic natural resources. In other words, the stakes are incredibly high. Irrespective of your ethnic background or belief, it is necessary for us, as we go to the polls, to base our decision on the everlasting truth and not be tricked by a well-funded PPP/C propaganda machine, funded in part by the people’s money.
Truism number 1: No administration before or after independence has had to its avail these enormous sums of money available to them – Oil, Gas, Gold…etc.
Second truism or fact: The boast of building schools, hospitals, roads, pump stations is shallow since PPP/C has embarked on a reckless, irresponsible spending spree. Before we vote therefore, we should ask them to point to a single facility – road, school, hospital etc., that was completed in a satisfactory manner – for emphasis, I repeat “in a satisfactory manner” within the published budget allocation and time-frame. I hereby challenge them to name only one such project.
Third Truism: You build hospitals, schools etc., while depressing salaries and working conditions of teachers and nurses forcing, for example, teachers to go on strike to obtain a decent living salary.
The irony is this: The government, instead of proper planning to ensure the creation and retention of local skills, is now importing nurses from far away as Bangladesh and paying them more than Guyanese personnel. Of course, we now have as well, on our roads, drivers from non-English speaking places. But citizen’s what is even more troubling is that statement made by the general secretary of the PPP/C to the effect that he will have the police, and believe it or not, soldiers, deal with anyone who, according to him, disrupts the upcoming election. It is clear that the government is warning us of the advance of the creation of a repressive police state. That is how Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini orchestrated the rise of fascism just four generations ago. We must neither forget nor ignore our history. It is this sort of environment which led one of our elders, Eusi Kwayana, to call for a partition of our country in the late 50s.
Not to forget the relentless assault by the PPP/C on the independent media.
There are several contestants seeking your vote, but this point is relevant – If you truly believe that the present administration has clouded our Guyana in corruption, nepotism and indecency, then to get rid of them is the only option and there is only one force that can achieve that objective – that is, APNU-PNC slate. I end with this caveat and another truism – They say “a leopard never changes its spots” or in Guyanese parlance, “hint to baniba mek quashiba tek notice”.
May have a peaceful, productive September 1st.