Candidates make their case to UG

The four presidential candidates yesterday presented their visions for overhauling the education sector, creating jobs and ensuring unity if successful at the November 28 polls, at a University of Guyana (UG) forum that ended abruptly during the scheduled question and answer session.

APNU candidate David Granger was the clear favourite among the capacity crowd that spilled out of the George Walcott Lecture Theatre, while incumbent PPP/C candidate Donald Ramotar received both cheers and boos throughout the 2011 Presidential Candidate’s Discourse, which also saw participation by AFC’s Khemraj Ramjattan and TUF’s Peter Persaud.

The discourse, organised by UG’s Department of Government and International Affairs, allowed each candidate 15-minutes to present on a topic they felt would be of interest to the audience before fielding questions from the university student body and staff. Ministers of government as well as members of the diplomatic community were also present.
Granger, who spoke first, focused his presentation on the country’s education system and dealt specifically with UG. He accused the PPP/C administration of endangering the future of young people by making a mess of the education system during its 19-year tenure.

The four presidential candidates: (from left to right) APNU’s David Granger, TUF’s Peter Persaud, AFC’s Khemraj Ramjattan and PPP/C’s Donald Ramotar.

“After 19 years, 600 children are dropping out of school every month. After 19 years, 12,000 students writing the National Grade Six Examination this year failed in all four subjects. After 19 years, 70% of the students writing the CSEC [Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate] failed in English and Mathematics….,” he said, as he pointed to several” failures” in the education system under the PPP/C government. “Shall we give the PPP another 19 years?” he asked, before receiving a resounding “No!” from the crowd.
Granger identified education as APNU’s “greatest concern.” Pledging to make Guyana an “education nation” again, he said that “the solution is not to control every single council… the solution is to give the university what it needs.”

“We are not going to fight you down for funds. How can you run a university like this on a billion dollars?  You need four billion and we’ll give you that money. You’ll get a quality education,” he said, to an approving roar from sections of the crowd.

This student, reading from his cell phone, was the only one in this queue able to ask his question.

He also promised that under an APNU government teachers would be the highest paid public servants and would be allowed to serve for longer tenures. He also promised “One Laptop Per Lecturer” and that all of Georgetown would be made into a wireless hotspot. Additionally, he promised graduates jobs suiting their qualifications, so that they would be able to pay off their students loans while utilising their qualifications. He had noted that four out of every five university graduates migrate.

Ramotar, who ignored heckles from hostile sections of the crowd, pointed to Guyana’s economic growth over the years, saying that the country continues to grow and has risen to the challenge facing the region. “If that is not progress, my friends, you tell me what is?” a hoarse Ramotar said. He pointed to improvements in the salaries offered to university lecturers. “In 1992, a Lecturer 1 was getting $18,000 a month. Today he gets $165,000 a month,” he said, causing an extended uproar in the audience, which he told was “digging” into his time.

A section of the gathering that witnessed yesterday’s event.

Since his party assumed office in 1992, he said, it improved access to secondary education nationally. According to him, back in 1992, only 30 percent of Guyanese children had access to secondary education at that time. “I promise you… before the end of my first term, we will have universal secondary education,” he declared.  He said too that the government had invested millions in the university and promised a “world-class bio-diversity centre” at the university.

“Let us not dwell on the past, let’s talk about the future. Let me say that one of the reasons that our country has not grown faster than it has so far is because we lack cheap energy. Therefore in the next PPP term in government, energy is going to be an important factor,” he said, pointing to the Amaila Hydropower plant. “That is what is going to keep our university students at home and that is what is going to give us the jobs that we require,” he said. He added that solar and wind power will also be explored, while noting that investments in these areas would enable an expansion in the manufacturing and processing industries.

Ramotar also identified agriculture as an important area for development, saying that Guyana had enough resources to meet the local demand for food and to tap into the growing global market. “We have land, we have fresh water, we have good farmers and we will be able not only to secure our own food supply, but we would be able to take advantage of the high prices of food now going internationally,” he said.

He again received a mixed response as he left the podium, while APNU chanted the names of the coalition and its presidential candidate.
With vocal support from sections of the crowd, Ramjattan sought to contextualise Guyana’s current situation and blamed “sultan-istic rule” for producing inequality nation-wide. After outlining the six attributes of “sultan-istic rule,” Ramjattan said “I see those attributes here in Guyana, where we have a champion of a sultan” to loud approval from the audience. He said that throughout the majority of the 45 years since independence, Guyana has had “sultan rule” and he said it was time to vote to change this.

“We also have in this country an absolute inequality; the rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer. This inequality, I must tell you, creates distrust, creates mistrust, it creates a general disequilibrium. Neighbours cease to look after and check on their neighbours. There is no cooperative spirit and the result is the madness we see all around us: crime, corruption, violence, especially domestic violence, drunkenness and vulgarity, even on the platforms of presidential candidates,” he said to the approving crowd. He also pointed to poverty, saying it bridges the ethnic divide.

“Every ethnic community in Guyana has felt the impact of this inequality,” he declared, before talking about delivering to Guyanese “peace and happiness” across the ethnic divide. To solve the problem, Ramjattan said, the AFC has proposed 12-point approach that needs to be followed simultaneously, and he identified civil service reform, educational reform, a private sector-driven economy and hinterland development as part of the plan. He also spoke about mobilising Guyanese in the Diaspora. Emphasising that the task ahead would not be easy given the existing “morass,” Ramjattan was confident that it can be done.  He also spoke about revising the executive presidency, reducing taxation, reforming security by utilising British and American personnel.

TUF’s Persaud, who was the second speaker, began his presentation by attacking Granger and the PNC for rigging elections, triggering resounding boos from the audience. As he continued his attack against Granger, one member of the audience shouted: “Don’t tell we ’bout Granger, tell we wah yuh gon do fuh we.”

Persaud, who delayed the start of the event by his late arrival, told the gathering that the other opposition parties “were totally unqualified” to lead the country. He said that while certain parties spoke about eliminating certain taxes, such as VAT and PAYE, they had failed to say where they would get money for social services. He pledged that a TUF government would review the tax system.

Unrelenting heckling from large sections of the crowd prompted the moderator for the programme, UG spokeswoman Paulette Paul, to intervene. She asked that the audience allow the candidates to speak uninterrupted and said that police would remove any disruptive members there.

‘An obedient army’
Over two dozen persons were in line to ask questions when the forum wrapped.  Only four questions were allowed due to the programme’s schedule and its late start, although Paul noted that the candidates could opt to extend it.

Granger, who was first to field a question, was asked whether Guyanese should expect to return to the past under an APNU government, given the army’s role under the PNC during the 1973 elections, in which two people were killed.

“No, that is not the future would be like,” Granger said. He explained that at that time a number of countries throughout West Africa and the Commonwealth, including Trinidad, had experienced military disturbances and, to counteract this, the GDF decided to introduce National Policy Education. “And as a result of that  programme, Guyana was the only country in the continent of South America in which there has never been a military coup,” he declared, to resounding applause from his supporters.

“The result of the quality of training in the GDF was that in October 1992, the People’s Progressive Party was able to inherit a professional army; an army that has remained obedient to the PPP, just as it was obedient to the PNC,” he said.

He added that he was not involved in the 1973 killings, saying he was not the GDF commander at that time. “I was not at the scene of any shooting and I never shot anyone,” he said, adding that he was not the only officer in the army at that time. I have nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, Ramotar, who was asked about solving national disharmony, told the questioner that he resented the view that ethnic favouritism is prevalent in country. “It is not true… that all the heads of government departments are Indians,” he said, pointing to the disciplined forces, the National Insurance Scheme and the Bank of Guyana.  “I resent the view that was presented by politicians, Ramjattan among them, to say that every Indian who rose to the top in his department got there because of his race. I resent that view,” he said.

Questioned subsequently about the recent testimony by Dr Roger Luncheon, the Head of the Presidential Secretariat, and the assertion that there is no single Afro-Guyanese presently qualified for an overseas ambassadorial posting, Ramotar said that the testimony needed to be taken in context.  According to him, Luncheon was in court where he was not permitted to say anything but yes or no. He said too that the first Ambassador that the PPP appointed was the now deceased Brindley Benn, a former party stalwart. He took umbrage at the question, saying that it implied that ambassadors were only chosen because they were East Indian.

Asked how they intend to create a level playing field for businesses, Granger said that APNU will create a level playing field and put an end to cronyism and stamp out all forms of illegality. Ramjattan, on the other hand, said that AFC’s measures would include fair competition laws, lower taxes, an independent tender board and a system open to greater scrutiny. Ramotar said that he believed that the country was getting there because discretion has been removed from the government officials and that there are protections in the law. He pointed out that Cabinet only offers no- objections to contracts and is not responsible for hiring. Persaud, meanwhile, said that TUF believes in the free enterprise capitalist system and said that the party will ensure that all businessmen are treated equally, fairly and that all bottlenecks are removed, thereby ensuring that the private sector becomes the engine of growth.

When Paul announced the end to questions because of time, there was a chorus of boos as several persons had joined the line to the microphones to ask their questions. She said that the forum was to end at 5 pm and that the candidates had other pressing engagements. However, after the event, some of the candidates took time to mingle, greet and answer questions from the student body and staff.