AS we inch closer to elections day, Guyanese will be inundated with promises by the APNU-AFC on what they will do for the Guyanese people should they be elected to office.

But promises are not enough especially when seen against the country’s economic standing and the resources available to the country to deliver on such promises.

During the run-up to the 1964 elections, the PNC and the UF made all manner of promises in order to woo the electorate to vote for the then PNC-UF coalition government.

The PNC promised ‘Free Cassava and Milk’ and not to be outdone, its junior coalition partner, the United Force promised the nation ‘A Highway to Happiness’. Under the PPP, milk production and agricultural produce was booming; hence the Opposition party’s offer of free milk and cassava should they win political office.

The reality however turned out to be quite different. After having booted out the UF from the coalition government in 1967, the PNC went on to rig all elections from 1968 to 1985. The PNC continued to feed the nation a diet of lies and empty promises. In the early 1970’s there was the promise to ‘Feed, House and Clothe the Nation’. An ambitious 5-year development plan was crafted which was supposed to see the construction of 65,000 housing units and a strong and resilient economy that would have resulted in the country being self-sufficient in food. The small man was supposed to have been ‘the real man’.

Needless to state, the opposite actually happened. A mere 13,000 housing units were built during the entire period which were doled out to party supporters and friends under the doctrine of party paramountcy. The vast majority of Guyanese were forced to fend on their own with a significant number being forced to squat on state lands or endure life under slum conditions.

Housing was never a priority of the PNC regime. There was no housing policy following the failed 1972-1976 Development Plan and housing was eventually dropped as a line item in the Budget Estimates in the 1980’s.

It took the return of the PPP/C government in October 1992 before housing was once again put on the front burner. All squatter settlements were regularised and new housing schemes opened up in all parts of the country.

The PPP/C administration has a proud record of making house lots available to all eligible Guyanese and putting in place the requisite fiscal incentives to make it possible for ordinary Guyanese to own homes which under the PNC was a distant dream.

HYDAR ALLY