Dear Editor,
‘Are we indeed fortunate?’ is the heading of the letter by Donald Isaacs in Kaieteur News of 6.2.09, in response to mine of 3.2.09 captioned ‘Guyanese are fortunate to be led by President Jagdeo’ also published in KN.
Mr Isaacs, like me, is entitled to his views and the right to express them, under the freedom which we enjoy under the PPP/Civic democratically elected to office in October 1992, unlike what obtained under the PNC regime which maintained itself in office through institutionalised rigged elections, and which ruled dictatorially and undemocratically.
Guyana has made remarkable progress in a short 16 years considering the basket case it was, when the PPP/C inherited it from the long years of the PNC dictatorship. The socio-economic and physical infrastructure was shattered and dilapidated and had to be rebuilt, rehabilitated and extended. Thousands of school children having left primary school could not attend secondary school because there were not nearly enough, and in the more remote areas and hinterland, none at all. This has been corrected, and in addition to universal primary education, we have now achieved universal secondary education.
In the health sector, there has also been tremendous improvements with the provision of new hospitals, clinics, health huts, diagnostic centres and in some areas, doctors are now available for the first time ever.
Also, after the PNC demitted office after free and fair elections, they created a lot of problems for many of the sixteen years in refusing to accept the results of internationally and locally certified national elections, and attempted to carry out their declared intention of making the country ungovernable, also refusing to make unequivocal and unambiguous condemnations of violent crimes and with their so-called “peaceful” street protests which invariably turned violent were responsible for the “more division and distrustfulness among the races” to which Mr Isaacs refers and attempts to ascribe to the PPP/C administration. As regards the 2005 floods, caused by unprecedented heavy rainfall and rising sea levels, Isaacs fails to mention the collaborative and unified efforts among the people, government, opposition, many organizations and individuals both local and overseas in response to it. It is also totally incorrect for him to state “people have not been compensated for their losses.” Maybe some felt that the compensation and assistance were not enough, but there was a massive and well-organized effort by the government to help those affected. The World Economic Forum invited people, because of their knowledge, experience and abilty to make useful and valuable contributions to the debate and not because of “diplomatic niceties.” President Jagdeo had also been Minister of Finance and Chairman of the Boards of the World Bank and the IMF and had had high level discussions with many Heads of State on many issues, and his and the other invitees’ views would have provided more information for wider consideration, assimilation and more informed public discussions in many countries. Guyana under the PPP/C government is in no state of “decay,” and the majority of Guyanese, here and in the diaspora have confidence in the future of the country. Among other things, just look at how many people are applying for house lots, building homes, how many more new businesses are being established or expanded, and how many people are taking advantage of educational opportunities for the present and future. Also read the 2009 Budget speech. Yours faithfully, John Da Silva
I do believe they were some improvements but I like to ask Mr. John Da Silva to now take a trip to his name sakes business and get his eyes tested at Da Sila Optical service because I do believe he blind and then take a trip to hospital to get a full ENT check up
I have just left Guyana at Christmas and will be going back soon but I do believe if he is serious and I have said this to our dear President also we have to stop pontificating about what they have done because that is what they were elected to do but so much more could and can be done but we are still stuck in proving points about the past it the future I am interested in I don’t want to live in this dame cold for the rest of my life, but I will live in the Caribbean some were if this government or whoever is in power don’t start sorting this mess out . Enough said!
I am not sure how old is Mr.Da Silva,but he does sound like somebody of a different generation and who is bitter about the past.Why is he comparing the PPP to the PNC before 1992?The more rational comparison/question should be “did Guyana,over the last 16 years, made similar or better progress than the rest of the caribbean?” Answering this question should tell him how guyana is doing.
Good point Cummins
The rest of the Caribbean had a foundation to build on but Guyana’s foundation was completely destroyed by the PNC, so for the past 16 yrs the PPP/C was busy building back the foundation necessary for progress to take place
If Guyana was completely distroy during the PNC then what has the PPP done to Guyana. Take note from egg ball to fry chicken, from timber to wooden, from mallsses to pepper, and on and on illegal drugs, guns, money laundering, and corruption has become part of the Guyanese way of life.
Cooliman the sweet that you enjoy in America only come the other day. It was the Civilrights struggle that allow us all to be here had Blacks, Jews, and Poor white not maintain that struggle.
Guyana have one common problem and that is the maintainance of a common division between two groups blacks and indians.
Cooliman do your research and you will understand why the British did what they do in order to make sugar King.
You may like the PPP and defend them but seriously examin not the party but the works of this party and the development of Guyana and the Guyanese People.
America where you live is working on bringing its people together and you are working on maintaining separation from inside America. Who will you turn to when America get together? I wish you well..
Im sorry how old are you? Burnham helpes to create those schools you didnt have enough of, i hate it when people talk down the PNC when they werent even old enough to know what the hell happened when PNCwere in office.How has this country progressed? since ive been in the UK all i hear and see is bad news “Guyana Importing Sugar” <<– is that your kind of progress?
If PNC was so useless why did they they stay in office so long? Go ask around if you really want to know how Guyana was under PNC.
HAHA ..”If PNC was so useless why did they they stay in office so long?” … a Friday 13th joke .. but exactly how old are you ?
Im sorry how old are you? Burnham helpes to create those schools you didnt have enough of, i hate it when people talk down the PNC when they werent even old enough to know what the hell happened when PNCwere in office.How has this country progressed? since ive been in the UK all i hear and see is bad news “Guyana Importing Sugar” <<– is that your kind of progress?
If PNC was so useless why did they they stay in office so long? Go ask around if you really want to know how Guyana was under PNC.” Well well welll the jokes seems endless this lovely friday,,I hope ur blogger name has nuttin with ur questions,lmfao, the onliest reason the PNC was in office so long was becaused they rigged elections and defrauded the people of Guyana. The PNC never won a free and fair election is a historical fact that cannot be denied even by the most diehard supporter. Maybe you are not old enough to know who John DaSilva is…now that is comical. If you hate when people “talk down the PNC” then you are more than likely to bury your head in the sand as per the atrocities done by your beloved PNC in bringing Guyana to its knees. I strongly suggest that you get an education in the UK and enjoy the benefits of an English education that the PNC dismantled in Guyana for a more Socialist Pan-African education system.
Maybe, just maybe, the PNC’s rigging of elections to stay in office will, in the long run, absolve Mr. Burnham. The PNC never had the blessings of international donors as the current Gov’t. What really has the current administration accomplished with all the billions of financial resources awarded to it in direct transfers and debt write-offs. Tell me – a few schools, health clinics and a couple miles of roads. For crying out loud, when the US health ship visited Guyana, people were camping out by the thousands just to see a competent physician.
Mr. DaSilva the country has progressed at a decreasing rate. Please note that the progress is merely cosmetic- a few private buildings, cars and imported consumer items and fast food franchises.
WE do not have to ask around I will ask you….What are you doing in the WHITE PEOPLE COUNTRY? WHY DIDN’T YOU STICK AROUND TO ENJOY THE GOOD?!!!!!!!!
THE STREETS WERE SAFER,GEORGETOWN WAS CLEANER, SCHOOL WAS FREE FROM NURSERY TO UNIVERSITY,THE EXCHANGE RATE WAS MUCH LOWER, WE HAD A G.P.C THAT MADE WORLD CLASS DRUGS,FOOD WAS PLENTIFUL AND WE DID NOT IMPORT SUGAR, THATS HOW I REMEMBER THE P.N.C IT WAS NOT PERFECT BUT I FELT A LOT SAFER.
What the HELL ARE TALKING ABOUT? I am not for PNC OR PPP I am telling you facts Three or four years after the indipendence we had to line p for flour and oil.I can remember going back on vacasion in 1979 and the line was not only longer my sister in law and my brother’s mther in law got robber while waiting for food stuff.on seperate days.You may believe this but when the woman went to N/A police station to make a report these were her words I* quote ÖH ME G-A-A-D LOOK “A MAN DHA WID ME BANGLE!”MR. thief”all dressed up in IN UNIFORM. 1980 theren was no food for my three months old baby, 1981 immigration officers wanted to RIP me OFF at the air port luckly mybest friend’s husband was on duty. I was so discouraged that I never went back until after seven years,I did not bother then because I made use of the KILO I could have use to take food stuff for my children, on my return trip three of my four OK SEATS WERE SOLD OUT!!! BIG CONFUSION at Thimeri I swore again that ONLY EMERGANCY would take me back to guyana 1992 I went back for emergancy I COULD NOT BELIEVE MY EYES! and could not wait to get back to GUYANA.I find that the 90s were very,very nice and CHEAP until 2005, I notice a great difference in 2007 but life in general is expencive especially with the VAT that is introduced. adn the crime is just as inthe 80s and maybe worst so lets not compare who is better than who we are the ones who has to live together and not the MIMISTERS once their BELLY is FULL they couldn’t care TWO HANG who STARVE They should take an example from MR.OBAMA!!!!!! think about the DRIVE behind the wheel
I would be the first to admit that the pre-1992 PNC government was no band of angels; Lord only knows I had strong disagreement with much of their policies and practices. But the country was in far better shape then than it is now. Those who were not yet born or were young children then should shut up and learn the truth before spouting a lot of sycophantic nonsense.
Uncle Joe! I getting tired of these young people who knows nothing. I understand have come to truely that some of these young people recieve what is called hate education at home.
I must share this with you. When Mrs. Obama became the first Lady her room mate who was a white woman spoke out about the bad things her mother use to talk about Black People.
Progress at the expense of the following: the out of control drug trade…rampant corruption in both the public and private sector (e.g. NIS etc)…a damming report labeling the government as “oversized”….a dismal investment climate…its international standing is rated a bit higher than Haiti… importing sugar…crumbling infrastructure…no flood relief for victims… white elephant for a bridge…a half working sugar factory…a corrupt GRA…a corrupt CANU…Drug Barons being labeled as “embattled businessmen”…businesses stealing transformers and electricity…no indoor toilets in rural schools…rape, domestic violence and sexual abuse of kids and women including the First Lady…and the list goes on and on. That is misery not progress.
the out of control drug trade…rampant corruption in both the public and private sector (e.g. NIS etc)…a damming report labeling the government as “oversized”….a dismal investment climate…its international standing is rated a bit higher than Haiti… importing sugar…crumbling infrastructure…no flood relief for victims… white elephant for a bridge…a half working sugar factory……Drug Barons being labeled as “embattled businessmen”…businesses stealing transformers and electricity…no indoor toilets in rural schools…rape, domestic violence and sexual abuse of kids and women …and the list goes on and on. That is misery not progress.
WOW …..BRILLIANT…. SWAT i must take a bow to you my friend. This is one of the most accurate and honest blog i’ve ever read .I could not have said it better..this is definitely the best way to describe the hell we lived in under the PNC ILLEGAL REGIME for 28 years of real misery and i am so glad that you are not one of those diehard,stubborn,supporter of an illegal regime that the PNC was. One of those that would tell their Jesus how good Burnham and the PNC were to Guyanese and how honest and hard working they were;;( THAT SWISS BANK ACCOUNT WAS ONLY a vicious rumour)..Keep up the good work SWAT your reward is in heaven where Fat Boy is.
tsar if the pnc was that bad now that the ppp is in office how come you not going back to live in the democracy that guyana is now, all you are is full of talk.
Mr Da Silva, if you really believe this, then you really are detrimental to the future of Guyana.
Oh please , Most of us run from guyana , not because of the PPP but because of the result of the incompetence of the pnc .
This is why the ppp is struggling because they have to dig the country out of the hole before they can move on progressively. Look at all the bloggers that’re against this report , they’re all living away from guyana . They all run because of the defeciency of the pnc. Get real people.
so i guess you’re going back home soon to reside in guyana?????
and you still tekking holiday in Canada?
We run from the PNC but we still aint running back after 16+ years?
You should have gone home 16 years ago.
ultimate if every thing is so good why you still living in canada, you should be willing to move back to guyana.
so why guyanese still running from guyana under the ppp regime?
Gosh ya’ll gon kill me now , ha.
Amen-ra they running to see a different life, they’re not leaveing white mouth, most are leaving mansions behind, so get it right.
What progress is Mr. Da Silva. Can Guyana keep it most valuable commodity –it’s human rsources. The answer is no. The human resources is now not a well educated human resources and still they cannot keep Guyanese around. Why because there has been no economic development. Sure they are bridges and road being built ( just as in Burnham times)–but the government does have no economic progam that allow development.
Education, agriculture, sugar etc. has taken a dive. Mr. Da Silva is another PPP person that has been blinded a long time ago. Where is the development? is the Guyanese population increasing or decrasing. It is the only country in thr Western Hemisphere(South America, WestIndies,) where poulation has decrease No development means most Guyanese live abroad and give their developmental resources to other country
well said mr singh
Berbice River Bridge. Line Top Road on ECD. New Roads everywhere. Clean water in Pipe lines and NO more holes to go down in to get water. New bridges. Bright Lights on ECD and else where. A new looking Airport. Thousand of new house lots distributed. Shopping Malls. Splashmins! New Hotels. New Stadium. New Hospitals around the country. Casinos. Cell Phones! And so on! And so on! Feel free to add what I left out.
Way to go PPP and Private citizens!
Let me add what you left out:
1) Drug running
2) Lots of guns on the street
3) Record numbers leaving the country
4) Record numbers of extra-judicial killings
5) Record numbers of prisoners escaping from custody
6) Mass murders
7) Record number of crimes against women and children
8) Harassment of Guyanese everywhere because of the economic situation
9) Elevation of the country to the status of a MAJOR TRANS-SHIPMENT PORT FOR DRUGS
SHOULD I CONTINUE A. PERSAUD?