Leader of the Parliamentary Opposition Aubrey Norton has used his New Year’s message to accuse the PPP/C government of becoming more incompetent and more divisive while thundering that the country’s oil wealth is only benefitting the PPP/C elite, friends and families.
According to Norton, “the extant situation does not allow me to wish you a prosperous New Year but to take this opportunity to wish you all the best in 2024.”
Norton, also the Leader of the PNCR, said that the question most asked by Guyanese is why the oil money has not reached them. The answer, according to Norton, is not a secret. He charged that most of the oil wealth is enriching the PPP/C’s friends, families, and favourites. Norton alluded to the PPP/C’s holding of office for 26 of the last 31 years and reminded Guyanese that in the last two years alone, it passed two massive oil budgets and spent close to $900 billion last year alone. Yet, according to Norton, Guyana ranks among the worst on a range of human development or quality-of-life indicators, as it registers among the worst countries in which to live in terms of maternal and infant deaths, life expectancy, child poverty, food security, youth unemployment, and educational standards. The PPP/C, Norton said, has set no deadline and provided no guarantees on raising the living standards and ending poverty for the low and middle classes.
Accusing the PPP/C of having presented no economic development plan, Norton described the government as uncaring, clueless and incompetent. The Opposition Leader referred to what he called ‘assaults’ by the PPP on governance and democracy, freedoms of expression and association saying that these have reached even more dangerous heights, citing the recent court summons served on US-based political activist Rickford Burke. The police force, said Norton, continues to be used as a political tool and the poor and powerless continued to be dispossessed of their land. From the Nigel Dharamlall scandal, the oil audit scam to unbridled corruption, Norton said that last year, Guyanese saw the perversion of justice and flouting of the law by those in high office while escaping prosecution.
Norton, who also heads the A Partnership for National Unity Coalition, conjectured that life here has gotten worse and asked Guyanese to ask of themselves: ‘are we better off in our homes, our workplaces, our communities, and in our society? Are we happier and more satisfied? Are we more able to cope with the challenges of living in Guyana? Are we more confident and hopeful looking into the future?’ “I am sure,” Norton said, “Most of us would answer ‘no’.” Stating that the mass of people are compelled to live in poverty and depend on remittances from the caring Guyanese in the Diaspora, Norton described the Government’s approach to development as one of neglecting the development of Guyanese. Most Guyanese would agree, Norton inferred, that the PPP made 2023 one of the hardest years in living memory as the economic front would suggest a surging cost-of-living as real incomes declined, increased poverty and inequality and living from paycheck to paycheck. Many parents, especially single parents, Norton said, could not afford to properly feed their children, and this Christmas, many families were forced to spend less. Yet, despite these hardships in 2023, Norton said, the PPP government showed no urgency, no capacity, and no concern to ease the burden on the people.
Throughout these national crises in 2023, the Opposition Leader said his party carried on the fight, alongside the people, as they visited and listened to citizens in several communities across the country. “We worked to keep you, the citizens, informed. We fought in the courts to defend our Constitution and the rights and freedoms of citizens. We campaigned in the Parliament to shape the national agenda and to keep the government in check. We demonstrated on the streets for electoral reform, including a new voters list and biometrics. We lobbied international stakeholders. And we presented our ideas for a better Guyana,” Norton declared. Norton said the Opposition believes that Guyana can have one of the world’s highest standards of living, become one of the world’s happiest societies, and that Guyana can achieve the goal of zero poverty and zero misery, including becoming a model of democracy and good governance but could only achieve these ideals with a caring and competent administration.
The poor performance of the government dictates that there must be a change of government, and according to Norton, that change is near. “As the next government we are committed to implementing a development strategy that puts people first and at the centre. We see this not only as our moral obligation to the people, but also as an economic investment in developing our human resources. We are committed to tackling the ills that sap the Guyanese people’s spirit and vitality, such as discrimination, poverty, crime, unemployment (especially youth unemployment) and the lack of economic security and a livable income. We are single-minded in our ambition to build a new Guyana.” Norton restated that for 2024, the Opposition will not relent on the fight for fair, just and equitable cost of living relief measures and allocation of resources to citizens, in the defence of democracy and constitutional order and the rights and liberties of citizens and communities, exposing government corruption, discrimination, and ineptitude, intensifying its demand for a clean voters list and biometrics at the place of poll, and persistent vigilance to prevent the squandering of the country’s oil wealth.
Norton called on all fair-minded Guyanese to join in the campaign to rescue Guyana and said that together, “We can transform Guyana into a world-class and prosperous society… that Guyana can become the envy of the world… where citizens have opportunities to realize their aspirations and full potential. That is our vision in the Coalition. That is our pledge. That is in our contract with Guyana – our contract with you, the people”, he asserted
