Dear Editor,
We have observed in yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek that the Attorney General has gone on record to establish that the CCJ ruling does not require Cabinet to resign. We concur, but wish to remind him that while this may be true, the successful passage of the no-confidence motion does. The incumbent administration has no basis whatsoever, house-to-house (H2H) or otherwise, for not resigning and proceeding with elections. The current list delivered acceptable results in 2015 and at the last Local Government Election. Whatever weaknesses it might have can be easily rectified by a claims and objections period. The current exercise is just another example of the disregard the current administration has for taxpayers’ money by wasting it on this wholly unnecessary H2H exercise.
The Granger administration had its opportunity to serve Guyanese. All it achieved was a well-deserved no-confidence motion. Let Granger and his coalition administration resign and call elections immediately. For those who object to the no-confidence motion, here is why it was passed:
1. Granger reversed on many of the coalition’s campaign promises, especially including unemployment, leaving many youths and young families stranded.
2. His administration gave themselves a 50% increase, dragged out negotiations for public servants, and scuttled the arbitration process with the teachers’ union that would have set the stage for much better wages and salaries across the public sector.
3. The incumbent administration demonstrated it does not know anything about administering Guyana’s economic affairs by in addition to willfully not addressing our unemployment crisis, also implementing and raising taxes and a host of new measures which ultimately made Guyanese poorer, inclusive of its intractable stance of not reducing the tax on gasolene which would made a great difference to struggling families with children who have to take public transportation to go to school.
4. The coalition administration adopted a dictatorial and domineering position on the negotiation of the EXXON Production Sharing Agreement which then and even today has been shown to forfeit at least US$10.9 billion in income tax receipts from the contractors.
5. The Granger administration demonstrated that it is clueless about the responsibility of government to its people, and managing an economy by electing to lay off close to 5,000 sugar workers, stall payments of their severance benefits, and not implement significant long term arrangements to address the welfare of these individuals which should have at least included the implementation of unemployment insurance. In addition to directly impoverishing these Guyanese workers and starving their children, the administration has actively depressed and undermined the economic welfare of the communities which depend on the incomes of these sugar workers for their existence. Granger’s own economic advisers, and even the IMF, would never have advised him of such an approach, which we have found to be against sound economic thinking.
6. Finally, among the major issues, David Granger and his administration have exhibited an unhealthy, distasteful degree of autocratic bullyism which smacks of a much darker period in our history, which we do not appreciate, care for, or look forward to in any administration in the future.
All the bridges, roads, boats, buses, bicycles and any other infrastructural projects have been buried and made inconsequential by the above coalition-administered policies. David Granger has failed the Guyanese people. His administration has failed the Guyanese people. His administration has received a just and fair no-confidence motion. The Constitution has directed that his administration resign. Parliament has advised that his administration resign. The Chief Justice has confirmed that his administration should resign. The CCJ has confirmed that his administration should resign. Civil Society has called for his administration to obey the constitution and resign. We call on the David Granger administration to resign. Let the People of Guyana manage their affairs however they see fit. We do not need either a wet nurse or a dictatorship.
Yours faithfully,
Craig Sylvester,
Democratic National Congress
