To say the PNC and PPP both failed equally is to disregard the evidence

Dear Editor,
I would like to respond to some points made in a letter by M Maxwell published in SN under the title ‘Both the PNC and PPP belong in the same boat’ (November 11). The letter in question is aimed at making cheap political points without any regard for evidence. This sort of thing must stop. I would like to make a few specific points of my own regarding differences between the PPP and the PNC. To make this more readable I’ll simply enumerate my arguments. They are as follows:

(1) The PNC controlled 80% of the economy. This had two effects. Firstly, it allowed the PNC to use control of employment in the state sector to extract political discipline. There were hardly any private sector jobs under the PNC. Small businesses outside of retail were non-existent. Under the PNC the formula was – no party card; no job. No such thing exists today as the Guyanese economy is open and small businesses are creating more jobs than ever.

(2) The economic record of the PNC is horrendous. This does not mean that the PNC did not achieve anything. They did. They built some good roads, improved health and education, and built the Demerara Harbour Bridge. But much more could have been achieved were it not for the fact that ‘one man rule’ stifled personal initiative. By the time the PNC left office the country was flat broke. There is no reasonable way to deny this. Most of the foreign exchange was used to service the debt. The debt service ratio was among the worst in the world, and basic items were absent from the country. No toothpaste; no flour; no dhal; no soap; no sardines. No anything. Not so today. Now, Guyana has one of the best records on its debt service ratio and the country is off the IMF programmes.

(3) PNC supporters rightfully complain that the international environment was difficult during PNC rule. There were two oil shocks (1973 and 1979) and excepting for brief periods in the mid-1970s commodity prices were on a downward trend. But we must also be fair and acknowledge that much the same has existed since the PNC (unwillingly) left office. The price for a barrel of oil today is more than $85; Guyana (along with other ACP) countries lost the preferences in the European market for sugar; and today there is still very much a world economic crisis of catastrophic proportions. The PNC, therefore, cannot hide behind difficult world economic conditions.

(4) The PNC failed at its own programmes when it did not have to do so. Take Feed, Clothe, and House the Nation by 1976. This was a good vision – one that was consistent with a basic needs approach to human security. But it failed on all counts. Instead of feeding the nation by 1976, the country was short of the most basic foodstuffs. Were it not for contraband traders, the Guyanese people would have starved. The shelves were literally empty. Housing was no different. A home loan under the PNC was 34%! Compare that to today – when consumers have abundant choices of products and no one needs a secret meeting with a contraband trader to  get a half pound of garlic or a bar (cake, in the countryside) of soap. Today a prospective home owner can get an eight million dollar loan for below five per cent! Thousands of house lots have been given out and Guyanese from all walks of life are acquiring homes and building long term equity.

(5) Most of all, during nearly three decades of rule the PNC failed to produce an overarching framework of economic and social development. Flimsy little experiments in things like National Service, and Knowledge Sharing Institutes were quickly reduced to nothing. The attempt to run the country from Kuru Kuru failed miserably. In contradistinction, Guyana has produced a genuine framework in the form of the Low Carbon Development Strategy based on Avoided Deforestation. When the LCDS was first articulated from the Office of the President, the PNC and the AFC pulled out all the stops to shoot it down. They failed. Today they have to sit there quietly and admit that the LCDS is brilliant, not only by Guyanese standards, but by any world measure.
Yours faithfully,
Randy Persaud