Dear Editor,
Another broken promise by the PPP; this time to the entire working class — especially the children of the country. Correction: leaving out the children of the friends, families and ministers of this emerging One-Party State. The President must be aware that it is morally wrong to set out to fool the entire voting population. This kind of disrespectful behaviour can only occur in rice republics like in ‘The Land of Many Waters’ (that now imports water to drink) or be explained as a joke with minimal consequences when governments are unaccountable. In any case, I do not buy the cash flow explanation from a regime known for finding financing when it wants to. This year, only three months after passing the highest ever 1.3 trillion dollars budget, the PPP used-or abused- its slim majority in Parliament to extract a further 57 billion in June then proceeded to announce Elections two months later.
It is the archetype of this former Marxist ruling class to dangle the carrot as experienced by yet another broken promise to renegotiate the oil contract. During the last elections the PPP routinely used the public purse to buy votes as was reported in Kaieteur News where President Irfaan Ali ‘hinted’ that should his party win the elections the population would be given one of its usual arbitrary cash grants for the Christmas holidays[1] reenforcing this ‘hint’ with the ‘We will have a beautiful Christmas. Look at the smile on my face and know that you will have an enjoyable holiday!’
The PPP has never faltered to extract money from the nation’s coffers (GuySuCo gets some 8 billion subsidies annually and the Mohameds extradition proceedings incur some US$100,000 monthly) so why renege on a promise to present the nation with a ‘beautiful Christmas’ in President Ali’s own words? It can be debated that Guyanese are indeed a gullible assortment where promises, bribery and handouts embrace the very psyche of the nation; from compromised officials to the ever-lasting barrel shipments. Seems like all talk and no action; and the iconic movie line (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) is worth quoting here: when you have to shoot, shoot, don’t talk. The only explanation can be derived from his lengthy 150 minutes address to the nation when he talked much about Artificial Intelligence. Guyanese have gotten was an Artificial Cash Grant.