THE ‘demise of the PPP’ as the opposition and their media houses normally term this wishful thought, has been grossly exaggerated and is meant to demoralise PPP supporters.
The PPP has certainly lost some support in what may be considered their traditional strongholds, but this is nothing they cannot regain over time after they have regained the confidence of the people in those areas; and yes, they have lost control of parliament, but such is inevitable in a democratic society.
In the words of Guyana’s President Donald Ramotar ‘…the opposition is on a crusade to taint everything as corrupt’.  This is by far the best speech the Head-of-State has made since his swearing-in; it could not be more factual – simple words with monumental meaning to the national political and social dynamics.
The collective opposition use their supportive media houses to perpetuate negative stereotypes about the PPP/C administration; and they especially target Afro-Guyanese professionals serving the administration and technocrats in the governance construct, and even more so young politicians and anyone who has achieved popularity in the current government, as well as all of the government’s marquee projects in a bid to undermine development and make the PPP look corrupt with the intention of giving credence to their ridiculous contention that Guyana is a ‘failed state’. Imagine saying that of a country that has achieved and sustained economic growth and social development within a landscape of deterioration in the global economy.
A case in point is the Irfaan Ali imbroglio. The opposition in their entirety had jumped to the conclusion that the minister is guilty of financial skulduggery, without any given empirical evidence or strong theoretical basis, and they continued ad nauseum with their wild accusations despite the fact that the minister has tabled numerous financial documents before parliament’s integrity committee, which provided a comprehensive and credible explanation of the way he obtained his wealth. However, it suited the agenda of the opposition and their satellites in the private media houses, which all continued to vilify and demonise the minister.
Then came the furore over the AFC member in the police force, who alleged that there was fraudulent conversion, with the complicity of Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee, of  $90M designated for the police operations during the elections period.
Accusations and allegations came far and wide from both opposition camps and the private media, but when the Auditor-General’s report provided proof that the police officer had been peddling lies, and simultaneously exonerated the Minister of Home Affairs from any such wrongdoing, the opposition forces suddenly lost their voices, not even an apology was offered to the minister.
The remark reported by a nefarious media house, infamous for its scandalous and untruthful reporting, ascribed to Minister Priya Manickchand, ‘… if you don’t like the salary then quit,’ when proven to be a fabrication, elicited an apology, as did that newspaper’s acknowledged misreporting on statements made by Finance Minister Ashni Singh; yet they continued on this reckless path with Winston Brassington and NICIL, and were forced to concede on public television that they had just reported what the (opposition) politicians told them. Christopher Ram, rabid anti-government critic (who had proffered himself as a president in an interim arrangement for government of Guyana because he alluded President Jagdeo was lapsing in managing the country), admitted at that public forum that many of his accusations against government functionaries made on his television programmes were based on ‘conjectures’.
These, and more, reveal that the Guyanese media that are supporting the joint opposition are willing to fabricate and destroy people’s lives to simultaneously sell their products and promote the agenda of the political parties that they support.
After destroying the reputation of hard-working government professionals, sometimes derailing developmental projects, dislocating project funding, among other negative fallouts, they offer a pathetic piece of writing that they term as an apology, after the damage was already done, which in all likelihood can never be really  undone.
A case in point is when a certain opposition member criticised Minister Manickchand for the said speech after the ‘apology’ was offered, and an infamous columnist had the audacity to write a letter to the editor saying that the minister should prove her innocence to the newspaper and should send over NCN tapes to them.  In other words, they were holding the minister to ransom with threats of continued fabrications.
Corruption in any governmental construct is inevitable to a certain extent, only a fool will doubt that, especially in Guyana where corruption under the former PNC administration became endemic as a result of that government replacing professionals in the public service with unprofessional and unqualified holders of party cards.
But some genuine mistakes that the PPP/C has made have been deemed corrupt. However, as President Ramotar rightly said, ‘…only fools who do nothing make no mistake’.
Corruption does exist in the PPP/C government, as it indubitably exists in most governments all over the world, but only petty corruption is widespread. There is scant leverage for deals to be secretive because there are constitutional checks and balances in place to prevent this, and the opposition MPs have access to that information to which they can make themselves privy if they are prepared to work for the money and the princely benefits that they enjoy.
No public deal can be accurately or honestly deemed ‘secretive’, even those with confidentiality clauses, which fast-track development, are certainly not corrupt by anyone’s stretch of imagination, because eventually they have to be placed in the public domain.
Anti-government activists have zoned in on the wealth obtained by certain PPP officials as suspect, but it is common knowledge that the PPP uses renowned professionals to serve in key positions in the government, and most of these people obtained their wealth long before they took a government job and entered the political arena. One such example is an economist formerly contracted by the IDB, who eschewed his huge USD salary to serve his country, but it seems that PPP officials are forbidden from enjoying luxuries that members of the opposition take for granted, despite their wealth is often proven to be accrued through questionable means, with the Globe Trust fiasco being an exemplary case in point.