Dear Editor,
Elections are about thirty days away, and the APNU+AFC coalition seem to be in a very strong position to unseat the incumbent PPP/C Government. As a consequence, the PPP are resorting to all sort of lies and misuse of statistics to pad their record and vilify the PNC which last held office twenty-three years ago.
The incumbent claims to have restored democracy in 1992, but has not held local government elections since 1997. Instead, they have used their executive power to install a number of Interim Management Committees to run the local government organs across the country. These committees were made up of supporters of the ruling party. Overt attempts were and are being used to destroy the workers’ unions. What do we call the removal of financial support to the Critchlow Labour College?
They claim to have spent billions of dollars on improving access to and the quality of education our children enjoy. There is incontrovertible evidence of the shortage of books and furniture in many of our schools. Parents spend thousands of dollars monthly either at private schools or for extra lessons for their children. Those of us who use public transportation know too well the competition we face with students at night in the bus parks to get home. The situation is the same whether it is the East Coast Bus Park, the East Bank, West Coast, West Bank, South, Sophia, East and West Ruimveldt Bus Parks. The country’s premier tertiary education institution is in a mess, plain and simple.
Talk to the training officers at the Guyana Defence Force, the Guyana Police Force and the Ministry of Health, and they will tell the horror stories about the quality of applicants they get.
It was on October 6, 1976 Flight CU 455 was destroyed off the Barbados coast by a terrorist bomb, and among the dead were eleven Guyanese. These included the first group of students who were awarded scholarships to study medicine in Cuba. Since then hundreds of Guyanese youths have studied a wide range of disciplines in that republic. Many of those students serve or have served as ministers in this present government. It is therefore untrue for this government to claim that they initiated scholarships to Cuba. Credit must be given where credit is due. The PNC while in government did many great things for this country. It for the APNU to articulate their position.
The University of Guyana Medical School was the brainchild of Dr Richard Van West-Charles, when he served as Minister of Health. He was ably assisted by many prominent physicians and educators who are still alive and can verify this information.
The PPP/C claims to have the fastest growing economy in the Caribbean. This claim is made at a time when the prices of our major exports are all falling and production is dropping. The production and prices of gold and sugar have dropped. The production of rice has increased, but there has not been a concomitant rise in the sale of this product. There is no value added to our forestry products. What other products do we manufacture or market in the global economy? Do the maths, the claims of progress must be false.
The members of the ruling party have the nerve to call for evidence to support claims of corruption. The Attorney General confessed to using state funds without authority, but said he repaid the money. Nothing was done. Two top officials of NCN were allowed to resign even though there was prima facie evidence that a crime may have been committed when funds due to the organization were deposited in the personal account of one of the executives. More than two years have elapsed and the President hasn’t acted on the report of the investigation.
It is clear that this government is incapable of taking this country forward. There is no vision; all they are capable of doing is looking back and distorting the facts. The past is the past; the major actors whom they seek to vilify are long dead. Circumstances are different, hence the response to changing situations has to be different. These people are so desperate that they are prepared to sully the legacy of their Founder Leader by associating him with the level of extravagance which they embrace. The people of Guyana must save themselves by their vote on May 11.
Yours faithfully,
Donald Ainsworth
