I read a recent article by one Akbar Khan in the Guyana Chronicle where in a detailed account he highlighted some of the many atrocities committed by the PNC against Guyanese while they were in office. He was perfectly in order with the facts presented, thus exposing that clique in their blatant disregard for certain sections of the populace while pampering others. It was bad governance of the nation’s resources that even a blind man would have had renewed eyesight. I commend persons like Akbar Khan, unlike some of the AFC actors with that new found amnesia of theirs, putting up quite an exhibition pretending that none of these things ever took place. They forgot, and I speak specifically in Moses and Khemraj’s case, that these were the very issues that they for years spoke out against only to disgracefully embrace them now.
But let me get back to my main discourse. In addition to Mr. Khan’s facts I bring into evidence the way Guyanese, certain sections of them, were treated.
You will recall the old age pension scheme, so called the brainchild of Burnham, but do you know that those in Georgetown were given a higher pay than the people in Berbice? A gross violation of our civil liberties being Guyanese; why should one set of individuals be treated differently form others?
I know the hocus-pocus reason behind the disparity; that those in Georgetown incurred more expenses such as a rent to pay while those living in Berbice had none. Quite an excuse was given to a people (Berbicians) on whose backs a huge chunk of the foreign income earning lay. But the real reason was none of what they put forth; it was simply a PNC party government rewarding its main constituents for rigging them a victory. The same could be said of the Lindeners whose net earnings at the mines were way above that of the sugar workers and here I ask Christopher Ram, “the esteemed” chartered accountant for the opposition to research and present us with the facts. Comparing the salaries of the two sectors was like night and day. One must not forget the Wimpey, Reynolds and Alcan days when a man could have afforded the prime upkeep of his outside woman with such ease. No wonder the reputation “the boys at the mines” gained during that era. To top it off, they were not paying electricity like the rest of us. Fantastic! These are the  facts of Guyana that the PNC/APNU and AFC are defending; one group being afforded the charmed life while others were not. Then I am forced to ask the question: what relevance the motto “One People, One Nation, One Destiny” has for me a Guyanese just like any other irrespective of race, geographical location or political affiliation? Certainly all Guyanese were not created equal? I would not take up much more printing space to relate the horrible years of the man-made PNC economic disaster. Suffice it to say that party responded in the good old partisan PNC way when they established the Knowledge Sharing Institutes (KSIs) in PNC-controlled areas. “Government outlets” strategically set up to ensure that its party supporters were afforded, access to commodities that were banned from the rest of the citizenry.
But far more interesting is the PPP/C’s actions which I can safely say were responsible for the angry reaction by its ardent supporters at the last general elections. The PPP/C in their time of office unconsciously continued the trend of disproportionate treatment of its citizens. They, not wanting to be branded “a racial government” have done the unthinkable. Just take a look at all the major developments during their tenure and you will agree with me; our roads, our bridges, electrification and telecommunication down to the attitudinal treatment of its own supporters; the PPP/C has sacrificed the minimal of comforts for its own just to please those of the opposition. Yes, they have been most severe on their own. With that hunger to hear good things spoken of them, they’ve angered their own people.