Dear Editor,
The dust has settled after the Guyana electorate delivered their devastating verdict on the state of the country. Evidently the electorate could not be persuaded by the powerful media machine of the ruling party as it ground into action on the campaign trail. Neither did the vast sums of money spent to keep them in power, rescue them from a dismal outcome. The smaller, disadvantaged opposition parties, deprived of funding and with little media clout, could hardly claim to compete on equal terms. This must surely have set the alarm bells ringing very loudly about the future direction of the sovereign nation.
It is with little surprise then, that the smaller parties have now ended up with the combined majority of the votes entrusted to them. Traditionally this was the preserve of the incumbent party in government. Is the ruling party content to accept this as a resounding defeat, and are they open and willing to embark on a new course of action and to begin to repair the serious damage that has resulted? Surely this can never be achieved by having a handicapped government limping on regardless of its minority status. A lame-duck government is the last thing that the country can afford to upkeep, especially with the high pension payments that the politicians are awarding to themselves. It is high time that real power be handed back to the people, where it truly belongs and not left to the whims of inept party executives in plush venues in Georgetown.
They have failed to deliver on endemic corruption and the drugs trade. Policing is ineffective with a justice system grinding to a halt, and taking years to process court cases. There is little or no transparency and accountability to the electorate. The massive, illegal parallel economy is allowed to thrive and escape the vast amount of taxes, while the ordinary taxpayers are being pressurized to bear the brunt of the country’s tax burden. How then could a minority government pretend it is business as usual? Playing for time now, without stopping the rot that seems to be setting in, will only serve to cripple the country further.
Yours faithfully,
Mac Mahase
