ANY NATIONAL ought to feel proud of his country, especially one such as Guyana, where the Government has done so much in restoring its international image as a respectable State. Guyana’s post–independence history is well documented, and can be summarised as a country for which the attainment of independence promised so much, with a good beginning; but its direction was radically altered with the then Government taking the country  and its people down the long and  painfully dark road of a brutal dictatorship, as again supported by the details emanating from the current Commission of Inquiry  into the death of internationally acclaimed historian, Dr. Walter Rodney.
It was a period of our history that witnessed the cruel trampling of all aspects of our human rights; of those who dared to protest, being killed, and threatened into perpetual silence; of housewives being made to join lengthy queues for basic foodstuff and cooking gas; and  of Guyanese travelling to sister CARICOM countries being treated with the utmost disrespect. These are just some of the aspects of the indignities that were visited upon this nation.
Since we are aware of the valiant struggles of the progressive forces, such will not be repeated here, except to say that it undermined the PNC dictatorship, thus preparing the ground for its final ouster, via the first free and democratic poll held since 1964, in October, 1992.
With the democratically elected PPP/C having been returned to office, there began a socio-economic programme that has resulted in the transformative process of a country in which every social infrastructure had been obliterated/disappeared prior to the new Government taking office. Though still a work in progress, multi billions have been invested in national projects that have impacted and transformed the lives of thousands of Guyanese, such as the grand housing programme and the overhaul of the health and education systems.
Guyana’s economic growth and development success, since the coming of the PPP/C Government to office, has been hailed by every multilateral financial institution, with very special mention made of the prudent management of the country’s fiscal affairs. This is testimony to the fact that Government has been visionary in its choice of national development projects and their implementation.
What is so ironical about all of this is that the same party that had been in Government and had overseen the crashing of this country’s socio-economic structure during its 28 years in office, is the same party, now in Opposition, that seeks to derail this re-building process by its reckless refusal to support the passing of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (Amendment) Bill.
But how does one describe the actions of an Opposition that pointedly sets out to destroy the image of a country whose Government has striven so hard to restore its image? OBSERVER, after exhausting its vocabulary of adjectives on this very subject, offers HEARTLESS, UNCARING, AND WITHOUT DUE REGARD TO THE WELFARE OF GUYANESE.
No doubt that Guyana’s position on the legislation of this Bill has been described as “unique”, and this, OBSERVER suspects, it is because of the Government doing all and everything possible to have this Bill taken through the legislative process, but obstructed by an unconscionable Opposition. One hopes that those critics will realise that because of Government’s noted efforts, what can be considered an extension until October has been granted.
This should mean that both Opposition parties will be expected to do their national duty, without any pre-condition. They ought to know that the national interest is never mortgaged to such selfishness.