THE nation was warned of an impending ‘bloody war’ in Guyana by no less than former PNC Minister of Finance Carl Greenidge, during whose infamous tenure Guyana was said to be ‘bankrupt’ and no audited accounts were ever available to be presented in the National Assembly.So all the ploys and machinations to derail the Budget debates seem merely a prelude to a ‘bloody war’ to the discerning and/or those who have witnessed or studied the modus operandi of the PNC from time immemorial; and it is the PNC that the Government is contending with in Parliament, because all the other allied parties of the parliamentary coalition are merely extensions of the PNC, with no power to digress.
One is wondering what was the cost the AFC paid to be gifted the Speakership in the House; and a keen observer of the strategies of the PNC would conclude that co-operation on PNC’s divisionist, obstructionist, destructive brand of leadership in politics was the key cementing factor that propelled the head of the insignificant mini party to such an elevated (and lucrative) position in the National Assembly, bearing in mind that Raphael Trotman emerged from the bosom of the PNC; and cognisance should be taken of the fact that former PNC/WPA members do not denigrate their former colleagues but instead support and champion them, while former PPP/C members do the exact opposite.
Who knows what goes on behind closed doors? When Speaker of the House Raphael Trotman wears his other cap of member of the Opposition and confers with his colleagues who know what strategies are programmed to create mayhem in the National Assembly?
Jaipaul Sharma, the son of accused child rapist CN Sharma, is representing his father in the National Assembly, but it is his father’s seat he is warming. CN Sharma is the head of the Justice For All (JFA) party, and he is that party’s lead figure in the APNU opposition configuration. APNU MP Volda Lawrence was passionately denouncing pedophiles when Minister Priya Manickchand, under whose watch as Minister of Social Welfare and Human Services the most recent allegations of statutory rape first surfaced; who has irrefutable evidence from the victims themselves, heckled – a practice used and abused by Opposition parliamentarians, “ask your APNU member Sharma”. In Guyanese parlance, ‘nah wan daag name pampee’. Unless Jaipaul Sharma has unrevealed secrets that he feels guilty about – hence his demand for an apology, anyone would have rightfully conjectured that Minister Manickchand was alluding to head of the JFAP, which is part of the coalition grouping that constitutes APNU.
However, when one takes into consideration the threats by the leadership of AFC, the negative pronouncements of Granger, and the warning of an impending ‘bloody war’ by Greenidge, one wonders if the intemperate rantings and the gag order, immediately silencing her was not meant to catalyse the programmed pandemonium that subsequently erupted in the National Assembly as Minister Manickchand attempted to make her presentation last Friday evening. The hypocrisy of the Opposition was glaring as Volda Lawrence, who was just the day before passionately denouncing pedophiles, joined in the ruckus to defend ‘the good character’ of someone everyone believes to be a serial rapist of children. That, in juxtaposition with the protest action of AFC members, including Freddie Kissoon and members of the GHRA, and the WPA/APNU women’s arm – Red Thread, which purportedly represents the victims of pedophiles when it is convenient to them and when the perpetrator is not their political ally, creates a highly suspicious menu of mischief to create an excuse to start their usual mayhem in their country.
For appearance’s sake the gag order was lifted, but the train of events had already been set in place; and the public is wondering if this is not another instance of Opposition hypocrisy and doublespeak.
The level of hypocrisy is unbelievable; and Chronicle’s columnist ‘Old Kai’ had this to say, which pithily points to the ‘barefaced’ duplicity of the collective Opposition cabal: “Then there is APNU’s point man on infrastructure, Joseph Harmon, who said that the budget ‘was the worst ever produced by the Finance Minister’ and added that ‘Dr. Singh and his budget team is tired and has produced an uninspiring document’…”
Well, if presenting a document which will surely extend our country’s economic growth for a record period is “uninspiring” to this APNU Member of Parliament, it does not surprise Old Kai one bit. After all, it goes against their ‘making Guyana ungovernable’ plan; but equally, one can see that Harmon was speaking from a place of experience, given all the vast experience his political party had when they were in Government in reducing Guyana from the most progressive to the least progressive when they exited Government in 1992.
The genius even attacked “spending on public infrastructure” as being wrongfully prioritised. In the confusion, he inadvertently admits that several of the PPP/C Government projects, such as Amaila and the CJIA expansion are transformational ones but then goes on to attack efforts to realise them.
We are then joined by APNU Region 7 representative, Dawn Hastings, who announced that youths of the hinterland continue to be denied equal access to education and the obviously troubled woman was quoted as saying, “One of the cries is that there are still limited job opportunities for our young people…it is time our youth have access to technical or industrial centres.”
We can feel your ‘genuine’ concern Ms. Hastings, but it is a pity you did not realise this when your party, the APNU, teamed up with the AFC to cut a multi-million-dollar project to train hinterland youths in small business enterprises/entrepreneurships. It is sad that you sat in Parliament and remained quiet when the AFC threatened to cut funding last December for a project which will provide free transportation for Amerindian children to be taken to school. It is sad that you voted with your party to cut funding for the LCD’s for two consecutive years, and in so doing, denying Amerindians several projects which would have continued to address those concerns you spoke about. It is unfortunate that your party voted to cut Presidential grants for each and every Amerindian community for two consecutive years, grants which usually go towards developing village enterprises, creating those hinterland jobs you speak of now.
Then we have our dear Amaila hydro power girl, Cathy Hughes of the AFC talking about our ‘unrealised potential in tourism’ and during a deep period of reflection she questioned, “How can we expect the international marketplace to take us seriously when initiatives to move this sector forward have been put on the back burner for decades?”
You have to give her credit, but it is sad she was not concerned about our tourism potential and the international community when she and her party were publicly encouraging unrest which led to the destruction of Linden.
What message was her party sending to potential visitors when her husband publicly called for ‘no peace’ and the destruction which soon followed along the Agricola public road? You can imagine the great impression her party left on the countless number of visitors who were stuck in the ensuing traffic jam along the East Bank, and as a result, missed their flights. They have such nice stories to relate about Guyana’s tourism industry after witnessing the beautiful scenes along the Agricola stretch, which were inspired by Mrs. Hughes’ party. At the same time, in all of her concern for tourism, she remained opposed to the expansion of the airport to cater for our visitors and the construction of our first ever internationally recognised hotel, the Marriott.
In closing, it has not missed this newspaper’s attention that the AFC is calling to be provided with documents on the Amaila falls hydro and other major projects, again. Recall when President Ramotar came to office he invited the Opposition to discussions on these projects where they were presented with the documents and their questions answered. Then they went to Parliament and called for the documents and they were again given them. Now the AFC leader Khemraj Ramjattan is calling for the documents again, so it’s a rather pointless effort by Government. It is not the Government’s fault that the Opposition does not have the capacity to read and understand a basic project document or at least they pretend not to.
Guyana’s greatest fraudsters are sitting in our august National Assembly; and the ‘honour’ no longer exists in the “Honourable”, because there is rampant hypocrisy in the House.