ACROSS the political divide, regardless of race, and backed up by some polling, it has been concluded that the Government is off to a poor start.This past week, the major partner in the coalition, the AFC, proposed bringing back the Berbice Ferry. This is indicative of backward thinking.
It takes a few minutes to cross the bridge with significant economic savings in both time and goods. Why would we want to put our people through the hassle of waiting to board a ferry when the bridge is modern and operational?
Failure to negotiate with the private company does not mean we have to think backwards. Public-Private Partnership (P3) is crucial to the development of a nation, and agreements must be honoured for future investors to have the confidence to be part of this process.
The tasks ahead for all of us are to work at ways where we continue to contribute to the development of our nation. Someone mentioned to me recently, that we should not give advice to the current Government. I disagree.
As our Opposition Leader has indicated, we must be a responsible Opposition. Our MPs’ questions during the debate demonstrated that we have started out that way. We all want to see a Guyana that moves forward and build on our accomplishments, and we will do all in our power to contribute to the future development.
This is easier said than done, as without visionary leadership and sound economic approaches, it will not be possible. The new Government’s 1980 socialist policies must be replaced with modern day economic policy of creation of wealth with a sympathetic and realistic social conscience approach to those with the most needs.
Moving back to an era of socialism which punishes the rich in order to demonstrate you are for the poor is a retrograde policy.
The private sector must be allowed to prosper and be the engine of growth. Creation of jobs does not come from government, but from putting the policies in place that attract investments.
THE TASKS AHEAD
The Government believes it has a clear mandate (the recent election results suggest otherwise!) and is promoting the view that the policies of each of the political parties must now align with theirs. It is obvious from those results that the expectations of the voters are much different.
The PPP called for continued transformation and the building of the middle class while ensuring the most vulnerable are provided for. APNU called for providing for the most vulnerable, but ignoring initiatives that can create a growth environment for our nation.
APNU supporters are blindly following their leadership because of the dislike for the PPP, regardless of the successful policies that enabled Guyana to move from a 1992 poor nation status, to become a nation of growth and transformation – we must do our utmost to ensure that we do not return to those dark days.
Firstly, APNU can only overcome this poor start, if it sheds their autocratic way of functioning and accept the help of the PPP.
President Granger should realise that governing the nation is different from leading an army, where he called all the shots, without the questioning that comes from the democratic process of engagement and accountability.
Surrounding himself with cohorts from the Army does not help to provide the leadership the nation needs to build on economic success. My tenure in the U.S. Military including the Gulf War and my subsequent transition to civilian life taught me that while many attributes make one a unique leader, approaches must be modified.
Secondly, APNU should build confidence among the PPP supporters and assure them that they will work for all-round development of the nation, without any discrimination on the grounds of race, colour and religion. This does not mean they will ever get our votes, but will make for a more engaged citizenry.
CONCLUSION:
Regardless of our political conviction, we are all in favour of a successful nation. There can be many common ground where our political system can work together to ensure that our citizens benefit.
For that common ground to be developed, the major transformational initiatives must be addressed. Guyana does not need ‘RESTORING’ – it needs continued ‘DEVELOPMENT’. We need to complete the transport economic initiatives that will see the Road to Brazil completed, the Deep Water Port built and new industries such as Sugar to Ethanol, and value added Rice Products developed. These will create thousands of jobs, not merely 400 jobs, because affordable financing will be available as we heard during the budget debates.
The vision must fit the size of our nation, our leadership role in the region and the needs of our neighbours to use our ports. It is now about salaries commensurate with the expertise needed and thousands of jobs to be created.
Let’s us get on with the business of managing our nation and stop wasting our money on consultants and witch hunting, these just keep our nation at a standstill or most likely pushing it backwards as the return of the ferry service proposed by the AFC would indicate.
PETER R. RAMSAROOP
