BY now a trend should be emerging with regard to the characteristics of the Opposition. Very important is how easy what is stated herein can be verified in this modern and technologically savvy Guyana. What Google and Bing may not reveal, a trek to the archives would provide. Of course, the first line of verification is memory. While it may wane with age, it is never wrong. Using this verification tool, it becomes easy to understand the Opposition’s obsessions, including an ingrained proclivity to peddle lies unabated.

The peddling of lies has been fostered by their cronies in some sections of the media for which sensationalism and vilification are routine. More on the role of these sections of the media later on. The Opposition’s passion to lie can be related from innumerable examples. That said, let’s start with their general thrust during the 2011 elections campaign. Among others, the Opposition (both Parties) vehemently and convincingly articulated that, if elected, they would create more jobs and, by extension, more opportunities for young people.

It sounded good and must have captured the minds of some, specifically, the minds of unsuspecting young voters. But those who are aware of the Opposition’s craftiness to deceive were unmoved by such pronouncements. Time eventually vindicated them; the unmoved ones that is. The combined one-seat majority they obtained opened wide the curtain that hid the Opposition’s true identity. With an over exuberance of eagerness, they rushed to try and assume executive powers, having the belief that the one-seat majority so empowered!

This opened yet another curtain; one of ignorance with regard to the Constitution. This, of course, closed the curtain of eagerness. That aside, the opening of the new curtain further exemplified their penchant to lie, given that they made their supporters believe that the one-seat majority meant they were in power. Such a deliberate endeavour to mislead one’s own supporters must rank high in the echelons of misinformation. Again, time unmasked the Oppositions’ fixation with falsehoods. This, unfortunately, was only the beginning of the deception that the Opposition downloaded through the new Parliamentary dispensation.

Just weeks after their ill-informed notion that the one-seat may have elevated them to usurp the functions of the Executive, it slashed billions from the 2012 national budget. This resulted in many projects, including transformative ones such as the Amaila Hydro and the Speciality Hospital, being scuttled. But those were not the only consequences of such cold-hearted actions. Being blinded by a hunger for power, they removed the Government Information Agency’s (GINA) budgetary allocations, subsidies for the National Communications Network (NCN) and other agencies.

In the case of GINA, which is solely dependent on the allocations for its functions, such cuts placed all the staff at risk of losing their jobs, thereby forcing them on the breadline. The majority of the staff are young people, with many the breadwinner with obligations to financial institutions. Had it not been for the actions of the Administration, through the judicial system, the agency would have been closed and the staff sent home. Herein lies the Opposition’s zeal for deception. Just a mere four months after promising to create and secure jobs for Guyanese, especially young people, they moved effortlessly and deliberately to put jobs at risk and killed projects which would have created hundreds more.

To rub salt in the wounds of the despondent workers, not only at GINA, but from other agencies affected, when asked about putting Guyanese at risk, leading Opposition figures boldly proclaimed it was “collateral damage” and “so what”. That summed it up; an uncaring attitude through lies. As pointed out earlier, while there are many examples to cite with regard to the Opposition’s lies, this more recent example within the lifespan of our current young generation exposes the deception. If there were doubts, the APNU+AFC alliance currently in place, clears all, for the AFC said it would never, ever, be one with the PNC. “Teacher Percy” sings loudly!

(By Teayken A. Dhigg)