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WHEN the PPP/C took office late 1992, the state of the country was well-documented, with the economy reflecting the infrastructural crisis in the state. It took an approximate five years for the government to start making inroads into the gargantuan debt burden that was riding this nation’s back, like the legendary albatross, while simultaneously responding to urgent appeals for help from communities all across the country. It was like a parent seeing a child’s dire need without resources to address those needs, because 94% of the nation’s income was going toward paying, not the capital, but the interest on those debts, which was multiplying annually because of accrual effect.
Apart from that, mandatory wages necessitated another 20% expenditure from the national earnings; albeit public service wages had been frozen by former President Hoyte at $2,000 as a conditionality of the IMF-driven oppressive and draconian Economic Recovery Programme (ERP).
The opposition and its satellites called Dr. Jagan, and later his acolyte Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, beggars and all sorts of derogatory names, because they recognised and addressed the need for debt reduction and/or write-offs as a necessity to freeing up funds for developmental imperatives.
This was done amidst unending trouble in the land caused by the opposition collective, with great destruction to public and private institutions and infrastructure.
Dr. Jagan had tasked then Finance Minister Jagdeo with the unenviable task of charting and crafting a National Developmental Strategy, which was largely based on successive PPP manifestos.
So it was not 20 years that the PPP/C had to develop Guyana, because approximately five years had been a matter of digging figurative holes to fill holes; but simultaneous with debt reduction, the economy began burgeoning and the country began a progressive climb out of the dark years and times until it was poised, at elections 2011, to soar to the heavens.
But that was not to be, because the opposition once more is sending the country in a downward spiral, with the fallout directly affecting the ordinary citizens of the land because of all the consequential variables.
Dhanraj Singh, BSc in Economics 2010: Graduated from London School of Economics and Political Science Class of 2012, with an MSc in Political Economy of Late Development, Economic Researcher, Institute of Development Studies, opines as follows:
“The current state of Guyana’s political economy is troubling and definitely warrants close examination by citizens and also those in authority. It would be fair to say that much of the current obsession of opposition pandemonium changed gear when the budget cuts were argued. I said then, like I will repeat now, no economist in his right senses would recommend a budget cut of 11% (or thereabout) during a time of sluggish global economic growth.”
Despite the consequences of such a policy, it was fiercely argued in favour of by the opposition. The same event was a prologue for the unrest that took place in Agricola, when opposition parliamentarians made nothing more than a mockery of themselves, claiming to be champions of the law and of the peoples’ interest, while encouraging a public attack on ordinary citizens and justifying the destruction of properties and brutality of the innocent. It did not stop there, but has now arrived in Parliament.
The Speaker’s recent position on the Rohee issue is an indictment to the opposition’s understanding of protocol, procedures and precedence. This is appalling when one considers the fact that almost the entire opposition is made up of ex-military personnel and lawyers, begging the question: What does our own history tell us of these kinds of acts or similar ones?
Starting with the budget issue, as Minister Mohabir Anil Nandlall rightfully pointed out sometime ago, budget speeches under the PNC administration was nothing more than an annual death announcement. Due to lawless spending and wasteful allocation under the said regime, it was always forced to look at where it could cut and save, which caused the public much pain. This was the Bretton Woods Institutions’ primary demand and management approach, which Guyana was forced to adopt.
It is therefore no wonder that a budget cut is the only policy debate it can offer, as it is the only thing the opposition has experience and expertise in, especially given that they are not in power and cannot direct the public’s purse. Public unrest, property destruction and instigating fear in ordinary Guyanese are hallmarks of the PNC regime (APNU = PNCR). During the PNC’s rule, there was nothing like freedom of speech, let alone a debate on public policy. Today, freedom of speech is so entrenched that even the opposition are using it to bring shame and destruction to their characters and use it for public exposition of their own incompetence.
Their shameful conduct is epitomised by no less than the Speaker of the National Assembly, who should be the one being reviewed under a committee where a review of his savvy to comprehend parliamentary procedures and standing orders should be conducted. Despite being advised of the procedures, he allowed a motion that threatened the institutional authority and power of the highest decision-making institution in our democracy. This is not what a small and budding democracy like ours need, and definitely not what our economy needs. At the end of all of this, it should be clear to all Guyanese that when the PNC changed to PNCR, then to PNC–RIG, and further to APNU, the one thing that survived is their IDEOLOGY – the very governing paradigm that the party had from birth. It is sad that the nation’s average citizens are the ones who have always been, and will continue to be, the ones to face the brunt of such madness.
Madness is the operative word, because one could scarcely conceive of such behaviour in those hallowed halls of the National Assembly, which would in no way have been tolerated during the regime of the PNC, except that it was directed toward the PPP and Dr. Jagan. But while the theatrics continue ad nauseam, it is the ordinary citizen and the entrepreneurial community that are suffering, as the retrogression in the nation’s economy, scarcely felt as yet, continues and builds momentum on a downward spiral.
Apart from that, mandatory wages necessitated another 20% expenditure from the national earnings; albeit public service wages had been frozen by former President Hoyte at $2,000 as a conditionality of the IMF-driven oppressive and draconian Economic Recovery Programme (ERP).
The opposition and its satellites called Dr. Jagan, and later his acolyte Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, beggars and all sorts of derogatory names, because they recognised and addressed the need for debt reduction and/or write-offs as a necessity to freeing up funds for developmental imperatives.
This was done amidst unending trouble in the land caused by the opposition collective, with great destruction to public and private institutions and infrastructure.
Dr. Jagan had tasked then Finance Minister Jagdeo with the unenviable task of charting and crafting a National Developmental Strategy, which was largely based on successive PPP manifestos.
So it was not 20 years that the PPP/C had to develop Guyana, because approximately five years had been a matter of digging figurative holes to fill holes; but simultaneous with debt reduction, the economy began burgeoning and the country began a progressive climb out of the dark years and times until it was poised, at elections 2011, to soar to the heavens.
But that was not to be, because the opposition once more is sending the country in a downward spiral, with the fallout directly affecting the ordinary citizens of the land because of all the consequential variables.
Dhanraj Singh, BSc in Economics 2010: Graduated from London School of Economics and Political Science Class of 2012, with an MSc in Political Economy of Late Development, Economic Researcher, Institute of Development Studies, opines as follows:
“The current state of Guyana’s political economy is troubling and definitely warrants close examination by citizens and also those in authority. It would be fair to say that much of the current obsession of opposition pandemonium changed gear when the budget cuts were argued. I said then, like I will repeat now, no economist in his right senses would recommend a budget cut of 11% (or thereabout) during a time of sluggish global economic growth.”
Despite the consequences of such a policy, it was fiercely argued in favour of by the opposition. The same event was a prologue for the unrest that took place in Agricola, when opposition parliamentarians made nothing more than a mockery of themselves, claiming to be champions of the law and of the peoples’ interest, while encouraging a public attack on ordinary citizens and justifying the destruction of properties and brutality of the innocent. It did not stop there, but has now arrived in Parliament.
The Speaker’s recent position on the Rohee issue is an indictment to the opposition’s understanding of protocol, procedures and precedence. This is appalling when one considers the fact that almost the entire opposition is made up of ex-military personnel and lawyers, begging the question: What does our own history tell us of these kinds of acts or similar ones?
Starting with the budget issue, as Minister Mohabir Anil Nandlall rightfully pointed out sometime ago, budget speeches under the PNC administration was nothing more than an annual death announcement. Due to lawless spending and wasteful allocation under the said regime, it was always forced to look at where it could cut and save, which caused the public much pain. This was the Bretton Woods Institutions’ primary demand and management approach, which Guyana was forced to adopt.
It is therefore no wonder that a budget cut is the only policy debate it can offer, as it is the only thing the opposition has experience and expertise in, especially given that they are not in power and cannot direct the public’s purse. Public unrest, property destruction and instigating fear in ordinary Guyanese are hallmarks of the PNC regime (APNU = PNCR). During the PNC’s rule, there was nothing like freedom of speech, let alone a debate on public policy. Today, freedom of speech is so entrenched that even the opposition are using it to bring shame and destruction to their characters and use it for public exposition of their own incompetence.
Their shameful conduct is epitomised by no less than the Speaker of the National Assembly, who should be the one being reviewed under a committee where a review of his savvy to comprehend parliamentary procedures and standing orders should be conducted. Despite being advised of the procedures, he allowed a motion that threatened the institutional authority and power of the highest decision-making institution in our democracy. This is not what a small and budding democracy like ours need, and definitely not what our economy needs. At the end of all of this, it should be clear to all Guyanese that when the PNC changed to PNCR, then to PNC–RIG, and further to APNU, the one thing that survived is their IDEOLOGY – the very governing paradigm that the party had from birth. It is sad that the nation’s average citizens are the ones who have always been, and will continue to be, the ones to face the brunt of such madness.
Madness is the operative word, because one could scarcely conceive of such behaviour in those hallowed halls of the National Assembly, which would in no way have been tolerated during the regime of the PNC, except that it was directed toward the PPP and Dr. Jagan. But while the theatrics continue ad nauseam, it is the ordinary citizen and the entrepreneurial community that are suffering, as the retrogression in the nation’s economy, scarcely felt as yet, continues and builds momentum on a downward spiral.
