Dear Editor,
One has no choice but to call a spade a spade; it just is what it is. April 25, 2012 is no different and what it is, is the most significant subversion of democracy and exploitation of constitutionally bestowed powers that this nation has experienced since the times of the PNC’s dictatorial administration of Guyana. History will frown on the political abuse of the AFC and APNU and will judge their power-drunken political members harshly.
I will admit, I began to toy with the idea that the APNU and AFC leadership had turned over a new leaf, that these were indeed reasonable men and that they had actually traded in propagandistic diatribe for political maturity. I gave them the benefit of the doubt. And then, all in a matter of a few days, those calling the shots for the AFC and APNU showed their true nature. These are not reasonable men; these men have never been and will never be politically mature and authoritatively responsible. Rather than make good on their promises to use their new-found National Assembly authoritative position as a tool to encourage meaningful change in the furtherance of a brighter Guyana through negotiation and accommodation with the PPP, the AFC and APNU, through their groundless and inconsistent budget cuts have now embarked on a vengeful course of unjustifiable retribution against our democratically elected government. What a disgrace!
Imagine the hypocrisy of the AFC and APNU to consistently accuse our government of not generating employment opportunities when the first time they get a taste of authority, they use a measly one-seat majority in the National Assembly to deprive several hundreds of our hard-working Guyanese brothers and sisters of their jobs.
Can any reasonable person say that hundreds of employees should lose their jobs, which in the end, was a decision decided on the basis of one mere vote? In assessing the truly devastating effect of the AFC and APNU’s actions one cannot look simply at the precise quantity of those who will lose their jobs, but must also take into account that most, if not all of these now jobless persons have, on average, nearly 3-4 other family members dependent on their financial contributions for the family’s livelihood. So essentially, whatever the precise number of persons who lose their jobs is, one must multiply that number by at least 3 to come up with the number of persons really affected. It is not unreasonable to assume, therefore, that this is in the range of thousands.
In four months of parliamentary control, the only thing the AFC and APNU have accomplished is to make life harder for thousands of our Guyanese brothers and sisters.
They try to justify their actions, albeit unproductively, by referring to transparency and accountability in an effort to lessen what they claim to be over-spending and the squandering of monetary resources.
If this is their justification then why not vote to reduce the salaries of the very same sham parliamentarians who voted to force hundreds out of jobs, most of whom are paid much less than the parliamentary stipend? Why not vote to give up the duty-free concessions and other benefits, which each have a specific dollar value, rather than forcing hundreds out of jobs?
The answer is simple: their justification is a farce, nothing more than a mere pretext for purposeful and deliberate interference with the efficient administration of our government. The AFC and APNU are embarrassments to our political heritage and history.
It does not end there. It gets much, much worse.
In what is perhaps the most desperate and vile manoeuvre on the part of these immature and irresponsible politicians, obviously terrified that they will lose their one-seat majority in the National Assembly if there were a new general election, is the fact that they simultaneously cut the budget for the Guyana Elections Commission (Gecom). This malicious act seriously hampers the lawful possibility of what would be a justifiable call for a new election by creating an environment in which the results of any new election could easily be called into question and be attacked on the basis of the credibility of such results, since their obvious logic is that Gecom cannot be relied on to produce credible and reliable results without proper budgetary allocations. It is rather laughable indeed that the AFC and APNU have accepted and recognized that their combined one-seat majority in the National Assembly was a fluke, something which could never again result, their actions being sufficient evidence of such.
Guyanese should not fall prey to what the AFC and APNU are attempting to do. They are purposefully creating a legislatively hostile environment to undermine people’s rightful perception of our government as effectively administrating our nation.
Make no mistake, the current crises we face in this dark hour are wholly and completely attributable to the AFC and APNU’s mischievous interference with the sincere programmes and policies our government has envisioned in furtherance of a brighter Guyana. The people should not ever forget this.
Yours faithfully,
Cheddi Berret Jagan II
