GUYANA has a definite coterie of what can only be described as enemies of national progress, and this is well known and documented. But this is not too complimentary a view, nor description, that should be ascribed to supposedly matured men and women of both Parliamentary opposition parties that were elected as representatives of a significant number of the Guyanese people. One is left to wonder, what criteria was used by the political managers of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC), as determinants for selecting their respective parties’ Members of Parliaments.

This particular question is inevitable, because of what can only be seen as a bizarre and macabre culture of parliamentary behaviour that has to be without parallel in the annals of political behaviour among parliamentarians, anywhere else.
Can anyone understand why a group of persons, elected to their country’s foremost policy making assembly, professing to love their country and to sacrifice themselves for its welfare and development, utilise such an honoured position to continuously stab the nation’s progress in the back? Of course, this murderous action has been their practical doings, thus far in the nation’s tenth parliament.
This cabal would want their many constituents to believe that their actions have been carried out, to safeguard the nation’s best interests. It is mind boggling to listen to the many frantic attempts by these clearly defined enemies of progress, as they desperately try to give credence to actions that are not only anti-national, but injurious to the national well-being of citizens.
Aspiring to the nation’s highest forum such as parliament, should not be an opportunity for personal ambition, selfishness, and hitherto ulterior motives such as the settling of scores and vindictiveness. It must be an opportunity for the furtherance of the national goals of socio-economic development for the good of all, which must be a genuine and consistent desire on the part of those representatives without any conditionality. More so, it is an opportunity to serve. This must be the main consideration on the part of any citizen who sits in such an August assembly.
Any opposition party should be proud to be associated with its country’s progressive development, particularly a country whose government has been implementing policies that continues to effect qualitative improvements in the lives of citizens.
Look at the thousands, for example, that are proud homeowners, unprecedented in the history of the nation! The thousands, of all classes, who are now motor vehicle owners, again without precedent! The new hospitals and other medical facilities that are offering a better quality of health care to citizens more than at any other time in this nation’s history! And the many programmes of empowerment that have begun to positively impact on the lives of women and vulnerable groups.
Such well established initiatives can be further elevated to astronomical levels with the realisation of the Amaila Falls Hydro Project, a historical intervention that will make life four-fold more beneficial to all Guyanese.
This groundbreaking project is about lifting Guyana and its people to a higher plateau of national pride, since it is about the noble and humanitarian goal of alleviating poverty; and about Guyana laying a stronger foundation for its future generations.
Therefore, this is what both the APNU and the AFC opposition Members of Parliament should use their extra vote towards – join with the government in lifting their country to greatness, rather than undermine its progress.