I ASK my sisters and brothers who voted for the AFC: Is this what you voted for? April 25/26th were among the darkest and worst days in our legislative and political history. We witnessed the worst betrayal imaginable of people, examples of spite and naked vindictiveness.
The fact is the AFC combined with APNU to take revenge, to be spiteful.
The end result was the victimization of ordinary Guyanese, the loss of jobs by people — young and experienced professionals, and a deliberate effort to stall Guyana’s development trajectory. This is what the $20.3B cut in the National Budget was about.
Who voted to give these charlatans the right to use your lives as a sword to take revenge?
The truth is that what happened in our Parliament this past week was an absolute betrayal of trust.
I saw tears wetting the cheeks of honest and hardworking people. I saw anxiety, uncertainty and fear among our brothers and sisters. I heard the cry of a nation as ordinary people wanted to know why the MPs from APNU and the AFC were so heartless, uncaring, and unmindful of the progress our nation has achieved.
I was saddened by the response of MPs from the Opposition. They merely smiled with a smugness of evil. Khemraj Ramjattan and the AFC described the loss of jobs; the threat of higher electricity bills; the loss of computers for families; stopping of land titling and provision of solar panels for Amerindians; halting of the micro-finance programme for poor families; stopping the fight against cocaine and drug dealers; reducing the efforts to stop flooding etc. as merely “collateral damage”.
Carl Greenidge and APNU simply described their efforts to stall development in Guyana as political fallout.
In other words, both APNU and AFC concluded that the Guyanese people and their welfare were pawns in a game for political power.
In contrast, President Donald Ramotar and the PPP/C remain committed to the Guyanese people and to our Nation. We will not sacrifice the welfare of our country and that of our people on the altar of political expediency and in a game for power.
President Ramotar made it clear when he stated that “my faith in dialogue remains undiminished”.
Yet, all is not lost. The last word, you see, belongs to the people, not the politicians. I am encouraged because I have witnessed the resolve of my sisters and brothers everywhere to fight back. I saw my sisters and brothers stare back with defiance. I saw people who lifted their heads and looked directly into the eyes of the tormentors and defied them, swearing we will not allow Guyana to revert to those dark days of hunger and frustration; days of dictatorship and discrimination; days of naked bullyism; days of backwardness, when our nation was the poorest nation in this hemisphere.
If ever there was an anti-people action, we saw it displayed on Thursday and Friday at Parliament. When the AFC joined APNU to cut the National Budget by $20.3B between April 25th and April 26th, they really voted against the Guyanese people.
I therefore ask my sisters and brothers who voted for the AFC: Is this what you voted for? Did you vote against more reliable and more affordable electricity? Did you give Ramjattan, Nagamootoo and Ramayah the right to vote against hydroelectricity?
When they voted against the Amaila Hydroelectricity Project they voted to prevent one of the most important developmental projects for Guyana. This project would have ensured adequate electricity generation for our country, reduced fuel importation cost for Guyana, and reduced electricity charges for our people. By shifting to hydroelectricity, Guyana would have further increased our carbon credit, allowing Guyana to earn more $US through selling our carbon credit.
The vote against this LCDS project, therefore, was a vote against development and against the Guyanese people. It was a vote that will see higher rates of electricity charges.
I ask my sisters and brothers who voted for the AFC: Is this what you voted for? Did you really vote for the AFC to have them join with APNU to stop subsidy of the electricity charges for people? Your MPs reduced the budgetary allocation for GPL. This allocation was important to ensure that rising global oil prices do not cause an increase in electricity charges for Guyanese.
Government has consistently allocated funds to GPL to ensure we build capacity and that electricity charges are kept as low as possible. The Amaila project is a long-term remedy and the GPL subsidy is a short-term remedy. Your MPs voted against both. They voted to ensure that today and tomorrow, our electricity supply will be unreliable and electricity charges would be high.
Did you vote to ensure floods continue to be a big problem for people in Mahaica, Mahaicony and Abary? The Opposition MPs stopped the reconstruction of the Cunha channel and sluice, which are necessary to increase release of water from the East Demerara Water Conservancy into the Demerara River, and improve drainage for the lands along the Linden Highway.
Let me explain why we need this project. Remember when the PNC government brought in Barama they signed an agreement that re-aligned the Cunha Channel to a smaller and circuitous discharge channel that reduced and then eliminated any discharge from the Cunha Channel into the Demerara River? This misguided act of the then PNC government increased the risk of flooding in the MMA area and also reduced the possibility of livelihood for people living in areas such as Laluni and Badrima. When your MPs voted against the LCDS, they voted to prevent people from making better lives, to keep flood as part of our lives. Really! Is this what you voted for?
I can’t imagine that anyone voted for the AFC so they could join with APNU to say YES to cocaine and other drugs. Yet, in a most startling example of irresponsible behaviour, the Opposition cut 100% of the budget for CANU. In a country where illegal drugs and crime present us with a huge social, economic and security challenge, how can we fathom this most reprehensible act?
Now, sisters and brothers, your vote for the AFC is being used to ensure CANU cannot build its capacity to fight cocaine and other illegal drugs and the crimes associated with drugs. I know you did not vote for this.
Did you give them the right to stop this country’s heroic efforts to give land titles to the Amerindians for their land, to take away their fundamental rights? They voted to stop the land titling and land demarcation exercise in American communities, punishing the Amerindian people.
Who gave permission to the AFC to join with APNU to reduce the budget for the ONE LAPTOP PER FAMILY Programme? This programme is to ensure that children and parents from poor families are not left behind in this new technology-based world. It is to ensure we create equity among our children and our families. Yet they voted against this very important programme. They ignored the fact that China has provided a grant that will pay for a large number of those computers. All we need to do is spend about $170M to build the infrastructure and the training hubs. They blocked that and, therefore, blocked the whole programme. Did you mean, sisters and brothers, to give the AFC that power?
The Opposition voted to stop the fiber optic lines from Moleson Creek to Anna Regina, and from Lethem to Georgetown, with the clear intention of depriving ordinary Guyanese from being able to access affordable Internet services. Who gave such an authorization to the AFC to combine with APNU to deprive ordinary Guyanese of reliable and affordable access to the Internet?
Remember they had promised you they would never join with APNU? They have today betrayed you!
Who gave them the right to promote disharmony in our country? You and I, and my sisters and brothers throughout Guyana, joined with Cheddi Jagan to create a country of unity and harmony. The PPP/C Government established an Ethnic Relations Commission to ensure they promote unity in our country, and to take action to prevent ethnic discrimination. In a sheer naked example of vindictiveness, they voted to cut 100% funding for the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) because they wanted to take vengeance on Bishop Juan Edghill.
What kind of persons would sacrifice the welfare of our people merely to take revenge? They betrayed you, promising you heaven and delivering the bitter pills of evil.
Who gave the AFC authority to join with APNU to take away people’s jobs? When you voted for the AFC, did you vote for them to use your vote to take away people’s jobs and then call it “collateral damage”? Each one of the cuts I described above means the loss of hundreds of jobs directly, and many more indirectly. But there were more job cuts, too. The ICT programme was meant to create thousands of jobs. The 100% cut for GINA sent home almost 40 young Guyanese professionals. The 100% cut of the Government allocation to NCN threatens the jobs of more Guyanese professionals and deprives people of TV in many parts of the country. The 100% cut for the State Planning Unit at the Ministry of Finance will reduce capacity at the Ministry of Finance and leave many persons on the breadline.
Did you vote to stop international partners from sending money to Guyana? Did you give your votes to the AFC to stop private investors in our country? They who screamed that we need private investors want to send the investors packing. Unholy betrayal! Betrayal of trust!
Comrades, we have come a long away. I can’t say we have no reasons to be disappointed with the performance of the PPP/C since 1992; but we must concede Guyana is better today than it was in 1992. We have not solved all the problems, but we work hard and we are committed to better lives for all Guyanese, not for some. We have stood with you in good times and in bad times. We might not always satisfy all of you at the same time, and we could have done some things better; but we have never betrayed you, and we have never used you as pawns to fight for power.
I ask you today: Did you vote for the AFC to join with APNU? They say they have a majority, but I know that the PPP/C has 32 seats, APNU has 26 seats, and AFC has merely 7 seats. Did you give them a majority? Did you really mean for them to stand with APNU to stop the government from further improving our country and our lives?
The AFC betrayed you, comrades. They betrayed your trust.