I am a liberal and therefore subscribe to views that are an honest expression on whatever the issue is. Criticisms, I believe in. But it must be objective and honest. From the onset of the PPP/C’s administration the opposition forces inclusive of the parliamentary opposition, have led a sustained  culture of criticism against efforts to bring much critical and badly needed development  to this dear land of Guyana.  Every honest-minded and objective Guyanese who has lived continuously in this country for the past thirty years will testify to a land that had gradually grounded to a halt as a result of run down social infrastructure and policies that were not bringing relief to a people, cowed and suffering under the yoke of a frightful dictatorship. We all know the story, so no repetition is really needed. But it is good to remind these critics. Many of whom were in positions of power and influence. They know themselves. We also know them.
Criticisms, especially in the context of national development ought not to be adversarial and especially grudging. It must be constructive and lend to a pattern of reasoned and rational thinking. It must be done with the nation’s best interest foremost. This means people-oriented. Of course, there will always be differences of opinion as to methodology. But with a genuine desire of working together these can be overcome. Sad to say the naysayers in this beloved land of ours do not understand this philosophy. They, led by the parliamentary opposition have given true meaning to the term opposition politics. For this unpatriotic bunch such politics is about opposing for the sake of opposing. It can only be because the developmental projects that have been transforming this nation to a level of modernity did not originate with them, and the Government’s results are there all over Guyana as a testimony to the visionary policies of a dynamic president and his cabinet. Take for example, the building of the Berbice Bridge. From the moment that this ground-breaking project was announced, the critics with their usual cacophony started. The building of a bridge across the Berbice River was a peoples’ dream that this government realised. For decades, especially those under the last administration that saw the deterioration of the national ferry service, commuters, particularly those from the Ancient County, struggled and suffered to travel to and fro. Flights were lost by Berbicans seeking to return/go to overseas destinations; persons died as a result of not being able to travel to Georgetown quickly for medical attention; and businesspersons were hampered in their transactions. It took ages to affect a crossing from either side of the New Amsterdam-Rosignol divide. Now all those frustrations have changed with the bridge now in full operation. A journey to Berbice that would have been undertaken   prior to construction with great labour and stress, lasting some five hours or more, can now be done in comfort and in less time.  People’s lives have been transformed. Interaction between families from either side of the river is now more frequent, a social benefit from such a facility.
The Amaila Falls Hydro Project, one that is transformational in scope, has not escaped these prophets of doom. Cannot these blinkered and tunnel vision types understand what this project will mean for this country? These unconscionable people are suggestive in irrelevancies that this project has been concluded under fraudulent/questionable arrangements, when the Government has given a detailed flow as to the conceptualization, bidding process especially, and execution of this project. There is even an insurance company that has posted a US$3M bond for this project. The reaction to this particular key national development project convinces me that there are forces in this nation at large that are bent in a concerted effort to stymie national progress. For them, nothing that this government does is ever right. Is this gratitude to an administration for doing so much, trying to enhance the lives of Guyanese? The irony of it all is that these very critics, their friends and families have benefitted and are continuing to benefit from the very projects that they seek to tear down. Sure, they cannot be taken very seriously. But they are unprogressive and unpatriotic, and must be denounced. The Amaila Hydro Project will be a shining reality from which they too will benefit.