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Kaieteur News
Kaieteur M@ilbox
Sunday January 05, 2014
Kaieteur M@ilbox
Change will only come when the people are respected by the PPP DEAR EDITOR: As 2014 rolls out, too many Guyanese find themselves in their worst cost of living crisis since 1987. Not since the horrible 80’s have the working class struggled this much to make ends meet. If one is to go around the country in the villages and in urban areas, people are saying that they are struggling to fund their weekly food bills. If people who have middle level jobs in the system are faced with this cost of living crisis; can you imagine what is the reality for the people in Plastic City, Toppoo, Sophia, Pigeon Island? Surely we can do better as a country in light of the constant boast of the “biggest budget ever”. There is no doubt that Guyana has established a track record as being a loyal student of the IMF by dogmatically trying to achieve its broad monetary and fiscal policy measures such as containing inflation, safeguarding our international reserves and fiscal consolidation. There is no doubt that the PPP did much work to secure a situation where we are no longer borrowing to pay debt. There is no doubt we have new hospitals, schools, roads and bridges, etc. But what about the direct economic well-being of the people? Economic growth happened for the last several years Mr. Editor but it begs
the question -for whom? In the latest IMF report they warned that we need to “promote more inclusive growth”. The IMF in that December 2013 Report highlighted Guyana’s inability to meet “unmet development needs”. Including in these unmet needs is the persistent levels of human under-development with a social assistance system that rewards the rich and penalizes the poor. Can you imagine Mr. Editor that we procure 80 percent of the medical supplies of this nation from one person to the tune of some G$4 billion? Then there is that case of a skin cream being purchased at G$1,900 a tube on behalf of the poor but the same cream is available for the rich at under G$200 for those who do not need the state system. The crux of the matter is that an increasing number of citizens cannot afford this PPP Government; they are certainly too high maintenance an entity. So how do we the people influence an alternative spending plan in 2014? First off it is refreshing to know even the IMF is calling for “a more even distribution of the benefit from economic growth” and this must be the signal to apply necessary pressure to achieve exactly this. We cannot continue to sing “Let us co-operate for Guyana…” when according to a financial model that I built, the top nine (9) business families have an estimated
wealth of over G$252 billion and growing at rate of G$479,000 EVERY HOUR. After TAXES (remember VAT) and NIS are deducted, the majority of Guyanese do not take home such sums of cash IN A YEAR. So there is no need for anyone, especially His Excellency the President, to even mention “let us work together”, when he sits on top of a system that actively provide ammunition for this war - economic inequality. Any righteous and politically conscious President would want to address the causation of the war rather than the effect of the war and do something tangible about it. Will 2014 find President Ramotar examining this issue
future for all its people-and I mean all its people. The Sara Bharrats and Ruel Johnsons bring to the horizons of a bewitched and abused nation, a sort of urgency to confront and change the status quo, like never felt before. The trust and support can only be resounding. They are not political opportunist. They are not men and women who will buckle under any pressure brought on by politicians. Their voices will not be stifled or their pens compromised. The fear that will sweep Guyana will not be that of its people. The people’s voices will be crying to be free. Shouting in unison for the change so needed. The change that will and must come. The young men and women from the University of Guyana and schools across the land will sit and have conversations with vendors, canecutters, mechanics,
Public Procurement Commission and the Public Service Appellant Tribunal are constituted. Failure to achieve these basic milestones will not be politically providential for the opposition. To the people of Guyana especially the working class the only path to economic emancipation is through greater militancy even if it means street action until the PPP values your labour. In light of this economic genocide being unleashed on the working class by the PPP, financial prudence is an essential tool for surviving 2014 (spend your money carefully on items that will elevate your health and mental well-being and at places of business that best support your cause).
The year 2014 must be the year that the boldest acts of civil disobedience must manifest itself similar to what Gandhi and King promoted; non-violence but firmly, resolutely, and peacefully. Change will only come when the people are respected by the PPP and those “biggest budget ever” serve as a policy document that stop this economic marginalization of the working class. I leave you with the wisdom of Confucius which states that “to know what is right and not do it, is the worst cowardice”. Happy New Year to one and all! LIVING IN THE PRESENT MOMENT IS THE ROOT OF HAPPINESS Sasenarine Singh
Mr. Bisram has demonstrated a lack of understanding of the PPP’s ideology DEAR EDITOR, In a letter published in Kaieteur News on Monday 23rd December, 2013, written by Vishnu Bisram, the writer raised certain issues which require a response. In that letter, Mr. Bisram purports to polemise on the PPP’s electoral chances at the next elections and expresses the view that the PPP is labouring under some delusion about winning those elections. He argues that among the basis for this delusion are that the PPP has neglected its constituency; many officials have erred; the
The awareness drive against corruption must be pursued vigorously DEAR EDITOR, The Guyanese people must treat every day of this year as if there is General Elections in a few weeks. The awareness drive against corruption must be pursued vigoriously. Every Guyanese in every walk of life must be aware, informed and active as a struggle that will change our country for better takes shape. Sara Bharrat calls for the silence to be broken and our fears to be quashed. She represents a young Guyana that can only secure a brighter
in detail or will we have more of –”it is them not me” syndrome? I am an eternal optimist and if ever, we should enter a New Year full of optimism, it is 2014. We should be optimistic that President Ramotar will change his wayward economic, political and social public policies to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor. Isn’t this what the Founder Leader of the PPP, Dr. Jagan, dedicated his life towards – the wellbeing of all his people? I want to use this opportunity to wish the nation all the best for 2014 and call on the majority opposition to yield not to PPP until the local government elections are held and the commission and tribunals especially the
street sweepers, rice farmers and bauxite workers. We will behold their changed expressions. You will sense the quiet determination and dignity in their movements and posture. This nation will sense a maturity and attitude in our young people that it has not sensed before. I believe, deep within my soul that every Indian, Black, Amerindian and other ethnic groups of young people have seen through the façade of the manifestation of politics in today’s Guyana. They have had enough. The future is theirs and can no longer be seen as an empty rhetoric to be mocked. Sara, courageously asked us to break the silence. Will we? Will we make a giant leap into our immediate future. Can we believe in the change that must come. Can we collectively walk that walk. We must. Norman Browne
PPP’s campaign style was lewd; PPP officials are guilty of arrogance without any actions taken against these officials by the party. Mr. Bisram has demonstrated a genuine and deep-seated lack of understanding of the role, function and ideology of the PPP. The PPP is, and from its inception, has always been a mass-based political movement dedicated to be the vanguard of each and every struggle to remove the working people from the chains of exploitation and poverty; to forge racial unity among our people and to remove class domination and discrimination in any form or fashion in our country. To achieve these objectives the PPP has used, and will continue to use a scientific approach as an interpretive tool in its analysis. From its tried and tested foundational principles, the PPP has never and shall never realise. In the pursuit of its objectives, the PPP sees Executive Government merely as a means towards an end and not the end itself. It is our view that while we are in government, it makes it a little easier to achieve these ends. But whether in or out of government, those goals shall continue to be pursued. In this regard, we rely on our record over the last 60 years to vindicate us. Therefore, Mr. Bisram’s reduction of the PPP to that of an electoral machinery, merely interested in the winnings of an elections, is a profound error which forms the genesis of every erroneous assertion he makes
and flawed conclusions which he draws thereafter in his missive. For example, he argues that the PPP will not attract multi-racial support even if it increases public servants’ salaries. As a working-class party that has struggled valiantly for over sixty years for a liveable wage for workers, the PPP will never utilise salary increases as a political token to workers anywhere. We will always strive to pay the highest wage possible, provided that the economy can sustain and the treasury can afford it. The notion peddled that the party does not understand the reality on the ground is one that is said of political parties everywhere. The fundamental truth is that political activism is always a work in progress. The PPP recognises this reality and through its party machinery, is constantly engaged in such endeavours. Admittedly, the same way that political gains are made, while a party is in government because it is able to deliver goods and services, similarly, political losses are suffered when goods and services are not delivered or when officials, through no fault of their own, have to refuse demands, both reasonable and unreasonable, of political constituents because the treasury cannot afford it. Arrogance and neglect are the resultant rebuke. These are realities which all political parties in government must bear. The criticism levelled in respect of the campaign-style employed at the last elections is one that has validity, both the President , Comrade
Donald Ramotar and the General Secretary, Comrade Clement Rohee, have made statements recognising that mistakes were made in this regard. Public commitments have been made not to repeat these errors. Bisram credits the PNC in not deluding itself in thinking that it can win multi-racial support. According to him, “it fished where there were schools of fish… The PPP, on the other hand, fished where there were no fish, wasting bait and losing its cast-net.” As is stated above, one of the goals of our party is to strive to bring racial and working class unity among our people. From the pursuit of this goal, we shall never depart. Unlike the PNC, we will never engage in ethnic and racial campaigning. We will continue to persevere to unite our people. So to Mr.Bisram, we plead guilty and we say that we will continue to fish where you think there is no fish even if we have to waste more bait and lose more cast-nets. As the oldest and largest political party in Guyana, we owe that to our country and our people. The luxury of an alternative is simply not available to us. Unlike the PNC (APNU) and the AFC, we are not political fishermen. We are nationalist politicians championing the every cause of all of our people. Governmental power is simply a conduit through which we do this. It is not our ultimate destination. Clement James Rohee General Secretary People’s Progressive Party.