The Opposition in Guyana has emerged as a greater threat to our nation than external forces

OLD Kai is back after a brief hiatus of which I will discuss in detail in a later column, save to say that I am in possession of a lot more damning evidence against the individuals from the Opposition camp who are trying to stop the publication of this column.This will come out in due time but for the moment let us shift focus to our 48th independence anniversary.

It was a grand event and from what I gather, the traditional flag raising ceremony at the National Park was a marvelous event. I have always wanted the organisers of the performances to try something different, less monotony and they have apparently delivered in 2014. Hats off to everyone!

President Donald Ramotar’s address to the nation highlighted the fact that he and his Government are moving in one direction with our nation but the Opposition is using their majority in the National Assembly to create all manner of diversionary episodes to sabotage the plans of the Executive.

When we assess how far we have come as a nation, we must take into consideration the consistent role the Opposition has played in destabilising progress in our land.

There is a long trail of evidence which leads straight to the Opposition camp. At a time when we are celebrating our sovereignty, the Opposition has emerged as a greater threat to our nation than external forces. One simply has to look at the fact that they have ran out of excuses as to why they have not supported the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Bill, which seeks to ensure the integrity of our local and international financial sources and transactions. Yet, the Opposition continues to harp about corruption and lack of transparency in Guyana, when they are directly hindering continuing efforts to tackle these issues by the PPP/C Government. In the meantime, our people are already beginning to feel the effects of being blacklisted by the international community for not having in place this necessary amendment in our legislation.

It was the Opposition which voted against subsidies for GPL in 2013 and in so doing, invited the cash strapped Power Company to apply for a 22% increase in tariffs from consumers. President Ramotar had to intervene and prevented this steep increase being felt by our citizens. It is the Opposition which voted against the construction of a Specialty Hospital, which will provide treatment for a number of ailments our citizens currently have to go abroad to receive.
The idea was that by providing these treatments such as open heart surgery, cancer and reconstructive surgery, kidney transplant, etc, at a more competitive cost in this part of the world, we will reverse the trend and patients from other counties will now be coming here and in turn we will use those finances to significantly subsidise the treatment for Guyanese patients. We all know that one of their main reasons for their opposition to the project came about because a company employed by the AFC leader did not win the contract for construction. It seems such a petty and personal issue to deny Guyanese such a critical project but we are dealing with the AFC and APNU here. Logic and optimism are not exactly their strong points, having gotten carried away with the role of an Opposition they have managed to imprison themselves with bars of pessimism.

They have cried about the inability of the power company to deal with an increasing demand for electricity as the economy expands, yet they have denied our people the stability and savings that the Amaila hydro power would have afforded citizens. Hundreds of University of Guyana students now face the prospect of going into the new semester without the traditional support of loans from Government to finance their studies as this was cut from the 2014 budget by the APNU and AFC.

Recently we were made aware of the plight of staffers from the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) who also had their budget slashed by the AFC/APNU. These are people who are fighting against the illegal importation and distribution of fuel among other issues. These are staff member that have resisted the temptation of falling to the financial temptation of those involved in this illegal trade which has in the past deprived the nation’s coffers of a significant amount of revenue. How can the Opposition now claim it is fighting against corruption when it is denying these hard working staff their salaries and security of employ which could very well force some into the arms of these traffickers because these people have bills to pay, they have to put food on the table for their families among other responsibilities. But this action of the Opposition might not seem so strange after all because it was they who opposed the use of integrity tests for GEA employees.

It is the Opposition which attacked President Ramotar’s suggestion that integrity testing could increasingly be used to tackle corruption in public agencies, including the Guyana Police Force. Opposition Leader David Granger had shockingly remarked, “You are bound to get people who are good at test and bad at performance.”

We can also recall that it was the Opposition which attacked the Guyana Government for moving to conduct a geological survey to map all of our resources in the Deep South which includes the New River Triangle area. As we are all aware, Suriname had laid claim to the NRT which is part of our territory but amazingly, the political Opposition rather than supporting Guyana’s position, they articulated the concerns of Suriname against the geological survey.

Then there is the U.S. LEAD project which the Guyana Government had argued that certain aspects infringed on our nation’s sovereignty. The AFC and APNU came out in full force to attack the PPP/C Government’s stance, only for the U.S. to acknowledge the concerns of Guyana and enter into negotiations with the Government to iron out the contentious issues. This left the Opposition out in the cold as it underlined the extent they would go in undermining the integrity of our nation.

These are just but a few recent instances which confirm that the AFC and APNU are working against the interest of our country and people.

During the last 48 years, we have seen the PNC Dictatorship running this nation’s economy into the ground, and then we have witnessed the PPP/C trying to repair the destruction and advance our interests.

Of recent we have seen the PPP/C fight to preserve and advance our gains against an onslaught from the Opposition who have publicly stated that they have no qualms in having our people become ‘collateral damage’.

When we assess how far we have come as a nation, we must take into consideration the consistent role the Opposition has played in destabilising progress in our land. We must take into consideration the impact of their ‘slow fiya, mo fiya’ and making Guyana ‘ungovernable’ campaigns. Recently we were informed of their latest campaign ‘jook fuh jook’ by no less a person than David Granger who, when campaigning promotes national unity and reconciliation but when it is time to deliver, by supporting initiatives which will advance the interest of all our people, he becomes an entirely different individual.

This is not me harking back to a past era as the critics love to point out whenever the Opposition is reminded of their history; these instances have all occurred post 1992. They have come at a period when Guyana’s economy is experiencing its most rapid transformation to the point where it is recording growth rates which are among the highest in this part of the world. Despite the challenges, we have much to celebrate on the occasion of our 48th independence anniversary. One can only imagine how further down the road we would have been had the Opposition adopted a more pro-Guyana approach.