Dear Editor,
The Guyanese people deserve a budget for 2018 that sets them up for a better life. But based on what I have seen so far, I am not convinced that Minister Jordan or for that matter his boss President David Granger are prepared to support the youths of Guyana to truly build this nation. Rather, there are some heavy investments in the personal welfare of a small group of mainly geriatrics who have all peaked over 15 years ago. A case in point is the medical plan for ministers who refuse to use the Georgetown Hospital but expect the nation to do so. How more hypocritical can this regime get?
In early 2015, the majority of the youth stood with Granger because they saw him as a fresh face. His words did encourage an ambition that more youths would have been able to unleash their potential under the new government, but sadly it was all a Houdini kind of illusion that was populated with heavy doses of subterfuge. The practical evidence clearly establishes that President Granger is not the leader who will motivate the majority of Guyanese to surge forward to mould a nation. He is stuck mentally in the 1970s and all his policies clearly reflect this backward dispensation. In reality, he is yesterday’s man.
Guyana as currently constituted is too small a nation to be making all these mistakes. But this gross incompetence in the regime is causing the nation to fail to harness its true growth opportunities. As a result, the young people continue to express themselves with their feet by migrating through the back door, the front door, and the side doors. As a result, we are losing the critical skills and manpower we need to continue to build this nation.
Those few who decide to stay are overworked and overwhelmed by the collapse of all the systems around them from the power supply, to a fifth world internet service, to a police service that spends more time fighting noise nuisance under instructions from the Minister rather than hard crime like murder and robbery.
Any finance talent would know that the 2018 Budget should be designed with the youths in mind, and should include programmes and projects that can contribute to the creation of the new jobs, directly combat poverty and feed the process of creating real new wealth for more people. But the stark reality is very different under Mr Granger.
One youth who left Guyana 5 months ago to work ‘off the books’ in New York, returned in June only to tell me that “in five months everything has gotten so much harder in Guyana”. She even ventured to say, “Man, I can’t wait to come back to the States”.
So to the apologists in the DPI and from other government propaganda outfits, who are trying to distort the truth with their fake narrative that things are getting better, should wake up. They can try peddling their falsehoods as much as they want, but the youths are aware of this Guyana tragedy under David Granger and they are turning on the PNC.
Yours faithfully,
Sase Singh
