I WILL be grateful if you permit me some valuable space in your Letters column, for me to seek answers to a few issues. I opened  (yesterday’s edition of) the Stabroek News and on page 3 there was an article titled:  ‘No impact seen yet from budget cuts’ – David Granger. The strap-line alluded to Ramjattan saying ‘Pressure mounts’.
Just the day before, in most of the daily papers, it was reported that the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Inc  was calling for  26.7 % tariff increase.
 
Since we burn fuel to generate power in Guyana and we do not produce our own, we are left at the mercy of the world market prices, which I must say fluctuates mostly upwards. So subsidy to GPL is required to prevent this  increased charges from being passed on to the consumers.
 
Correct me if I am wrong, but my understanding of the rationale behind the rates increase of GPL is directly due to the budget cuts by the same Granger and Ramjattan and their parties (APNU and AFC) combined one-seat majority in the House. It should be noted that when GPL, through the Government, wanted to increase rates in Linden from a mere $5 – $10 to the current rates already being paid by the rest of the country, it of course led to the protests in Linden resulting in the shooting deaths of three persons and a subsequent Commission of Inquiry which cost the government some $120M. This was in addition to compensation, to the buildings that had  to be rebuilt together with the immeasurable loss of business in that community that resulted due to the blockage of the roadways for days.

I was very interested in seeing what will happen between the combined Opposition and the government with this one seat that the Opposition has, since it was the first time in Guyana’s history this had happened.
Initially, it was good to see that certain ministries got their budgeted amounts after proper explanations by the respective Ministers.

GPL of course did not get their “subsidy” and here we are now facing a 26.7 % increase. Is it to understand from all of this that the rest of Guyana is fully capable economically to foot this exorbitant increase, or do we need to do what Linden did and block roads and protest too. Or is the Opposition only concerned with the residents in the “depressed community” of Linden?
Since, in my opinion, the joint Opposition has taken us (GPL consumers) down this road to the troubling situation, I  am very interested to know what the Opposition’s plan is, since I, like so many others, can barely afford to pay charges at the current rates much less the increased amount.  Like the many others, I may be forced to steal electricity too.
 
It is not rocket science to know that if the subsidy is not granted, one of three things will happen:
– load shedding (more blackouts)
– increased tariffs (which we are now faced with)
– closure of GPL (which means generators for the rich and jug lamps for the others)
 
Yet from time to time I see whole-page ads in the newspapers (mainly Kaieteur News) supposedly paid for by the AFC on the issue of radio licenses and procurement commission issues. Is it that these issues are more important to the country than the proposed rates increase by GPL? Come on Opposition, let’s see you put Guyana and Guyanese first instead of your personal agendas.
I fully agree with Mr Ramjattan’s statement that “pressure mounts”. However, it is being mounted on the people, no one else!