If there were doubts about the intention and motive of the parliamentary opposition, there were dispelled on Thursday in the final stages of the discussions on the national budget in the National Assembly.
The intention is clearly to derail progress and bring the country to a virtual standstill,  make it ungovernable and bring the government to its knees whereby it would have to succumb to all the demands of the opposition. This is not an unfamiliar political theme in Guyana because in the not-too-distant past, this was exactly the intentions of a former Leader of the Opposition, who threatened to make the country ungovernable through his famous “slo fiyah, moh fiyah “and kit and kin” campaign.
Any objective person would attest that the opposition is bent on stalling the government, and this has not been unfamiliar territory to the People’s Progressive Party because from 1953 it has had to encounter such treachery. It would be useful to recall that a former head of state who was Leader of the Opposition in the early 1960s had said that the Labour Relations Bill, which the then PPP government sough to introduce, was not the reason for the war but the occasion for it.  And so the Labour Relations Bill was  used as the “Trojan Horse” to unleash terror and mayhem in Guyana in a desperate attempt to forcibly remove the government.
Today, while the tactics and methods may be a bit different from an earlier era, the fundamental objectives remain the same as that of the turbulent days.
If for the sake of argument the blocking of the subventions for GINA and NCN were merited or justified, how could one justify the slashing of the allocations for CANU, the State Planning Secretariat and the ERC, all vital agencies to the effective functioning of the state.
In the case of CANU, it would mean the capacity of the state to counter the illegal drug business will now be drastically reduced and therefore the players in the business will now have a freer hand to ply this dreaded trade. Based on the action of the opposition, it could be then solidly argued that they are on the side of the drug kingpins. However, it is the same opposition which has been making wild accusations that the government has close connections with the illegal drug dealers.
Well the nation is now in a better position to decide whether it is the government or the opposition that is in cahoots with those involved in the illegal drug business.
With respect to the State Planning Secretariat, it is incomprehensible how the opposition could be so naïve to make  such an important agency, which is key to the planning of policies, developmental programmes and projects, non-functioning.
We are all aware that Guyana is a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society and therefore the removal of conflicts and tensions is crucial to our continued socio-economic development, and it was because of the recognition of this vital need to ensure peace and harmony among our peoples that the ERC was established and during the years of its existence it has made significant strides in this regard.
The blocking of the financial allocations to this body now renders it ineffective in the execution of its mandate. So how could one believe the opposition claims that it wants national unity and prosperity for this country?  But its recent actions have not demonstrated that; rather, they are highly contradictory of what they have been saying.
Guyana’s LCDS has been hailed internationally as a model, and it promises tremendous development for our people in several key areas, and of special note, it lays great emphasis on development of our indigenous peoples. It is therefore mind-boggling why the opposition would want to smash the allocations to pieces.
It is therefore evident that the opposition wants to stifle progress under this government so that when the next polls come the government would have little development to show and hopefully the people would become disappointed and vote it out of office.
However, Guyanese are not stupid and they know which party stood with them through thick and thin and has always been unflinchingly sincere to their plights and needs. On the other hand, Guyanese are fully aware of those that have been responsible for the suffering they have had to endure during different periods in our history. And therefore this strategy of the opposition may well backfire on them. It would be wise for them to take note of the Guyanese adage: “When yuh dig hole fuh yuh matee, yuh does end up inside.”