Obsessed with their political hatred for Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee,

the opposition alliance of APNU and the AFC seems bent on misusing a mere one-seat  majority in the National Assembly to spite vital arms of the State,including the Guyana Police Force and Fire Services, as well as much needed assistance for people in Regions 2, 3 and 5.
The opposition’s latest display of childish politics that, inevitably, will affect Guyanese across political and ethnic boundaries, surfaced in Parliament on Friday when they chose to again oppose new  budgetary allocations that are vital, and denial of which would eventually haunt them at a new general election.
It is indeed “unthinkable”,  as noted by acting Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Gail Teixeira, that even those among the APNU/AFC parliamentarians who should know better, would have so callously opposed supplementary budgetary allocations to the national security sector, while  also voting against contract workers employed in the Presidential Secretariat.
If, as some are now saying, the  APNU/AFC bedfellows are bent on offering opposition for the sake of opposition to capture headlines in their favourite anti-government  media, they must pause and reflect on the harm they are also causing for their own political supporters.
Such supporters must feel betrayed by the repeated failures by APNU and the AFC, one year after last November’s general election, to suppress their political bitterness and focus instead in fostering a spirit of compromise that could better enable implementation of  policies and programmes in  the national interest of Guyana, .
Constantly engaging in unjustified personal attacks against Minister Rohee and former President Bharrat Jagdeo may be self-gratifying for the leaders of APNU and the AFC, particularly the latter. But they were not elected to waste valuable time and the money they earn from the national treasury in the petty and vicious politics being pursued in and out of parliament.
Fortunately for Guyana  and its peoples—irrespective of political philosophy and party affiliation-while APNU, under David Granger’s leadership and the AFC  with Khemraj Ramjattan are playing politics, the international financial institutions (IFIs) and friendly governments continue to be supportive of Guyana’s efforts to advance social and economic development programmes.
While Guyana continues to receive deserved plaudits from the IFIs for fiscal management that ensure sustained economic growth and improve the living standards of the Guyanese people, the government of Norway, for instance, is making good on its partnership commitment in releasing funds for the internationally hailed Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS).
As reported in  yesterday’s edition, Norway has decided to release a further US$45 million for projects associated with the government’s LCDS thrust. As is known, it includes the vital Amaila Falls hydro-electricity development venture. This would be the third allocation to now total US$115 million.
It is to be hoped that the opposition APNU/AFC tango could undergo a new choreography which may yet rescue both from the current shameful political path being pursued,  while the government seeks to foster, much more vigorously, structured tripartite dialogue among the three parliamentary parties that could prove quite beneficial to the people of this nation.
It is certainly high time for APNU and the AFC to show a preference for political maturity instead of making a virtue of shameful politicking in the nation’s highest forum—Parliament. Let this Season of Goodwill be the occasion to show a new political mood.
A Merry Christmas to all our readers!