Voters will be given the opportunity to decide if they want five more years of government abuse by the Ramotar/Jagdeo behind the scenes partnership for leadership. The majority of the society is 35 years and younger and for the greater part of their lives only know this leadership. They know these last years have been one plagued with governmental excesses, the absence of a National Youth Policy that would ensure the young play a role in nation building, the pains of having a university education and forced to flee because your country has turned its back on you, the disgusted politics of division, recrimination, discrimination, nepotism and corruption.
The Granger/Nagamootoo ticket has put out its Plan of Action committing to equality and peaceful relations among the people, accountable government, inclusionary democracy, respect for state institutions, long awaited local government elections, youth empowerment, good governance and the restoration of the rule of law, among others. Mrs. Harper being on the ticket will not change these views.
The Ramotar/Harper ticket offers more of the same. President Ramotar has shown no deviation from the draconian, self-serving and anti-national policies of former President Jagdeo and Guyanese should expect more of the same. As President he has the opportunity to change course but instead he has kept the country on a pathway to disaster.
A Ramotar presidency means more lawlessness, crime, police brutality, torture, extra judicial killings, corruption, racial tension, inequity, contempt for the judiciary, increasing disparity between the rich and poor, disregard for those who did not vote for the party and insulting those who voted for them.
Another five years of PPP government also means more fear, more migration of skills, increased hopelessness among the young, disrespect for our elders and increase poverty for the working poor. The Jagdeo/Ramotar PPP has failed to conceptualise and implement any policy that would benefit all the people and ensure positive relations among the diverse groups.
The duo has demonstrated over the last years that the people only matter to deliver the votes in order that the levers of government can be used for personal-aggrandisement. Examine the amassing of wealth on the backs of the people you’d see Cadillac pensions, chartered jet to Florida to treat upset stomach, fancy cars and the mega mansions of Pradoville 1 and II.
No one is begrudged for their wealth, but when government officials use the people and their offices in furtherance of wealth accumulation something the people are in order to pour scorn on it. Will Mrs. Harper make a difference here? A Granger/Nagamootoo ticket will bring a screeching halt to the Smokey and the Bandit runaway cart by establishing commissions within 100 days of office, and such include the Procurement Commission and Integrity Commission. Politicians have to be held accountable and lead by example and this is what we intend to do and a choice we offer the electorate- a halt to using your money as though it is ours.
In foreign investments the Jagdeo/Ramotar regime has given away Guyana to foreigners as locals are denied work, treated as second class citizens, universal cooperate practices and laws are disregarded, and our environment threatened. Region 10 can speak to this with the presence of Bhai San Lin, RUSAL/BCGI, Bosai, and the forestry concessions given out without regard to planned and adherence to internationally adopted management.
The grievances of bauxite workers employed at RUSAL/BGCI have been languishing for the past five years and the government seems unconcerned. There is also the Amaila Falls project where the disreputable Fip Motilall made a killing with taxpayers’ money, then packed up and left. Mrs. Harper, having come out of foreign affairs, would have played a major role in shaping the PPP government’s foreign policy and she will now be held accountable for the foreign policy missteps.
Looking at the PPP’s record over the last 16 years we have seen billions of scarce dollars wasted on projects either poorly thought out or poorly constructed. Offhand we have the Skeldon Sugar Factory which cost tax payers more than US$200M dollars and it is basically a white elephant, underperforming.
The mismanagement in sugar and ignored intensified calls by the trade unions and others to arrest this decline has seen the government applying a Band-Aid to a festering ulcer, is not displaying a desire for betterment for the country and workers who will are affected. Public servants are still denied the right to collective bargaining and Mrs. Harper as a former public service and prime ministerial hopeful would do well to share her views on these issues.
Surendra Engineering and the Specialty Hospital where millions of US dollars were given to the company, whom the government took to court in response to public pressure for accountability, but the company fooled them which is another same ole same ole that has come to characterise the Jagdeo/Ramotar PPP. We must now concern ourselves with how these millions can be recouped. The drug trade is of concern both as a rivalling parallel economy and the havoc it is wreaking to lives and families.
Is this the PPP
today the same PPP of Dr. Jagan Sr.? Is this the lean and clean and working class government that is touted as his ideal? Is this contorted orgy of corruption and lawlessness Dr. Jagan’s legacy? One can only wonder how Mrs. Harper plans to fit into this.
The legacy of the Jagdeo/Ramotar PPP has now become Mrs, Harper’s inheritance and the electorate would want to know how she plans to manage it. There is no justifiable reason why a country like ours, rich in resources and the beneficiary of significant grants and loans should still have an economy that is second to Haiti, is a major drug shipment point, and carries the infamous reputation of being the most corrupt in the Region.
No reason at all. And these are the things we must debate during these elections. The electorate will have an opportunity to hear the plans of the Granger/Nagamootoo ticket to move this country forward and will make a choice between the road that leads to the dawn of a new and brighter day, or the road that leads to more of the same of the last years. The choice is clear and I’m confident the people will chose change through unity.
Sharma Solomon
Regional Chairman, Region 10
Region 10 APNU Campaign Manager”
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