2017 was so EXTRA!

By Sherod Duncan

THE year 2017 for Guyana was unprecedented in almost every way. From the macro change in the Sugar Industry, the posturing of the Private Sector, the collision course averted with our Teachers Union, the road to the appointment of our GECOM Chairman, the COIs, and the alleged plot against the life of the President.

Then there were the Cabinet adjustments in ministerial appointments, senior appointments in the judiciary, the President’s first presser after a lengthy interlude, the declared non-corporation of the Opposition, the sheer drama of the parliamentary debates of Budgets Estimates 2018, just to name a few, issues came at the speed of light.

In the remaining hours of 2017 came also the APNU+AFC Coalition Government’s release of the Exxon Mobil Contract and the promise of the release of other contracts, which if anything tells us that as the curtains come down on 2017, it’s not over until it is over.
Regarding the Exxon Contract, if that single action was the only event of 2017 the year would still be on the trajectory of being historic in a country emerging from a period in its history characterised by shady deals, opaque governance, and corrupt practices. It is a course to which a nation with the winds in its sails, buoyed by already flowing oil revenue in the Signing Bonus, must never return.

If the public sentiments through the letter columns and Social Media are any sounding board then the Government’s decision has received huge praise; even by some of its harshest critics and fiercest detractors; viewed as a step in the right direction toward a more responsible and transparent Government.

On the eve of 2015’s historic National and Regional Elections which brought our Government to power, at the final rally at the Square of the Revolution amidst a sea of green and yellow, songbird Lisa Punch belted out her cover of Sam Cooke’s soaring ballad, ‘A Change is Gonna Come’ foreshadowing the people’s verdict and vote.
When we went to the polls and ushered in a new dispensation and leaders of our choosing to translate our manifesto in policies for The Good Life which matched our vision of the future, we were choosing CHANGE over the status quo, ideas over ideological and sometimes moral bankruptcy; hope over fear. We NEED change.

With all that has transpired in 2017, by comparison 2018 could be a boring year. Yet in the drudge, and toil, ebb and flow, lull, love and labour that is the administration of the ship of State, the Government has a responsibility to all of its citizens to produce the change that we expect at all levels of Guyanese society.

Faltered we have, stumbled we did. He who is without sin let him cast the first stone. Reposed in this government, still, at home and abroad is tremendous goodwill. If we could have surmounted the challenges of this past year, then surely we can rise to the occasion of 2018 and continue to deliver change in Education, in Health, in Public Infrastructure, in Public Security, in Business; and in every other sector, Public and Private.

And each citizen has a duty not only to demand a fulfillment of the promise of change, but in the words of India’s famous son, Mahatma Gandhi, ‘Become the change you want to see in the world’. 2017, Boomout! Guyana, all the best for the New Year.
(Sherod Avery Duncan is a Legal and Communications Professional; former Deputy Mayor of the Municipality of Georgetown)

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