New year must bring real change

APNU leader David Granger has said the new year will challenge the opposition to deliver real change to the people through the parliamentary process.

“The year 2011 sounded the death knell of the PPP/C’s style winner- takes all political culture that had poisoned ethnic relations, divided the nation, fostered massive corruption and hampered economic development over the years,” Granger said in his new year’s message.

Granger urged the PPP/C to “stop pretending” that it could run a one-party government, while noting that the ruling party failed to address the people’s day-to-day problems in the past and will fail again unless there is change.

He said APNU and the AFC, collectively, have been given a mandate from the majority. “Their vision is clear and their voices must now be heard. The parties’ task will be to advance change through the legislative process in the National Assembly,” Granger declared, while urging the PPP/C against continuing to ignore the public will as the old administration did in previous years.

“At last, a real start can be made in fulfilling APNU’s electoral promise of providing ‘a good life for all Guyanese,’” he added, saying that 2012 must be a “year of hope.”

The new year, Granger said, must be one where the nation’s children can look forward to better schools, where the youths can expect employment, where workers can feel more secure in their jobs and where females can be safe in their homes and villages. “Everyday life in this country must be different from the past 19 years of PPP/C one-party rule,” Granger stressed.