Dear Editor,
M Maxwell in his letter (‘What does the PNC’s dismal performance on agriculture have to do with the PPP’s failure in agriculture?’ SN, October 30) took objection to a point I made in my letter of October 27, to the effect that the PNC’s record in terms of agricultural development was nothing short of dismal. He then asked rhetorically what this had to do with the PPP’s failures in agriculture.
Implicit in that question is an acknowledgement that agricultural development under the PNC had failed while attempting at the same time to advance the argument that agriculture under the current PPP/C administration has also failed.
I do not know what criteria Maxwell used in his determination of ‘failure,’ but if production figures are anything to go by then there is no way in which Mr Maxwell or anyone else can substantiate the view that agriculture has failed under the PPP/C administration. It is true that the Skeldon Estate is still to operate at full capacity for several reasons, mainly technical and logistical, but this is by no means an indication of “failure” in the agricultural sector.
This tendency to blame both the PPP and the PNC in equal measure for the economic and social ills which the country experienced over the years is misleading and smacks of a fair degree of intellectual dishonesty. Any objective and unbiased analysis of our development trends would show that whatever level of economic and social progress the country enjoyed came about largely as a result of the policies and programmes adumbrated and implemented by the PPP administration aimed at enhancing the material and cultural life of the Guyanese people, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or political affiliation.
And this is not accidental, but is driven by a philosophical outlook that is essentially people-centred.
This fact is manifested in the enormous strides made by the current administration in the fields of education, health, housing and water, and in the broadening and deepening of the democratic processes.
One fundamental difference between the PPP and the PNC is the fact that the PPP administration is democratically elected in free and fair elections, quite unlike the PNC which rigged its way into office in all ‘elections’ from 1968 onwards until it was forced to concede power to the people by way of democratic elections on October 1992.
The PPP/C and the PNCR cannot be placed in the same category when it comes to advancing the cause of the Guyanese people. And making such a distinction is by no means “an insult to the intelligence of the Guyanese people,” as Mr Maxwell seems to imply.
Yours faithfully,
Hydar Ally
