Dear Editor,
One ought to judge Donald Ramotar and his Team on their words, their public commitment and their proven track record. This judgment should be used to make a decision on whether they are the best Team to lead Guyana. Thus, when Donald told the independent press in an interview that “you have to judge us from where we are coming from”, this is exactly what I will attempt to do in this letter.
John Gafar in his book “Guyana: from state control to free market” clearly showed, using the GINI coefficient, that Guyana’s income equality marginally improved from 0.46 to 0.42 between 1993 to 1999. However, a 2005 World Bank Report revealed their most recent estimate for Guyana’s GINI coefficient at 0.45, a worsening of our income distribution. This position would have been confirmed by the 2005 Household Budget and Living Conditions Survey that the Statistical Bureau failed to deliver to the Guyanese public. Why is Jagdeo hiding this report from the Guyanese people?
Before I proceed to the main area of my concern, what is the GINI coefficient? This is the most commonly used measure of inequality in income in a country. The coefficient varies between 0, which reflects complete equality (all have equal income) and 100, which indicates complete inequality (one person has all the income or consumption, all others have none). Norway for instance has an index of 25, showing a better distribution of their national wealth, while a Sub-Saharan country is more likely to be above 50 (more of the wealth in the hands of the business buddies of their Government).
With this background in mind, one will understand why I ask the question, why is the Jagdeo Government hiding the 2005 Household Budget and Living Conditions Survey from the Guyanese public? With Guyana’s GINI coefficient in 2005 demonstrating that Guyana’s wealth is being distributed in a more unequal fashion than in 1999, one just has to reconcile this with what is happening to the majority of the people today. From all that occurred since 2005, there are clear trends to demonstrate that our GINI coefficient in 2010 will be much higher than 0.45 reflecting a grabbing of most of Guyana’s wealth by a few , leaving the crumbs for the many.
This is a fact that the Donald Ramotar campaign Team will want to hide from you but I ask the people to look carefully at their own economic circumstance today. Are you better off today than you were in 1999? Do you observe bicycle riders in 1992, now in the ruling cabal, buying up land and state assets in Guyana like if there is no tomorrow with money from questionable sources, leaving little for you? Can you testify that someone who did not even own a motorcycle in 1992 can easily build a mansion today worth $300 million in Pradoville 2 with questionable funds? Can you fathom that you who built your house in 1995 under the Jagan Government cannot even afford to carry out repairs to that house without the remittance from Aunty Sumintra in Richmond Hill, because of your economic circumstances? Team Ramotar will want to hide from you how the government single-handedly gave away state assets to a small cabal of close Business Buddies at peppercorn prices, while they always fret when they have to pay the working people more money, thus the widening inequality between the haves and the have nots.
The Jagdeo cabal continues to hide this 2005 Living Conditions Survey from us because it will provide real facts and empirical explanations to the dynamics why more of our people are more poor today and why only a few are marshaled into billionaire status as a result of sweetheart deals compliments of the PPP, on the sweat of the working people. It will reveal how much of our people have moved into poverty under the Jagdeo Government and Team Ramotar’s watch. This survey would have provided empirical evidence to support that the top 10% of the people with wealth in Guyana have seen multifold increases in their wealth while the bottom 40% have seen at best stagnation in their income, in some quartiles even reduction in their stock of wealth.
The working people in Guyana continue to face fundamental cross-cutting economic challenges with many experiencing for the first time in their adult life economic stagnation with its associated effect on their household income and expenditure outlays. But Team Ramotar will attempt to sweep these economic truths under the carpet as they continue to weaken the data collection system in Guyana and use the state media to stifle the culture of evaluation of their sub-optimal work and leadership.
It is hoped that at these upcoming elections the people will judge the PNC and the PPP on their track record and evaluate their personal economic circumstances in making a decision on the future they want. No sardine or outboard motor or tractor or beautification campaign should grab your vote. Your vote must be given to the team that best outlines how they will fight crime, provide new jobs and provide the opportunity for one and all to generate new income for all. Good luck people as you walk to the polls but first you must get registered and the month of May is vital for you to do this as GECOM rolls out the Claims and Objections period. The Alliance For Change will be soon be rolling out our sensitization campaign of the Claims and Objection period and we encourage one and all to get registered and vote, vote for freedom from the dinosaurs. As one of my colleagues said, think before you INK.
Yours faithfully,
Sasenarine Singh
