Dear Editor

DONALD Ramotar took to the nation’s lying podium in another section of the media on October 06, to declare that “The years of the PPP/C were glorious.” To be fair, the man is correct if you happened to be a PPP government minister or acolyte, a business crony, or working higher up in the PPP’s crony organisations. Beyond that, Mr. Donald and Guyanese must know that this claim is a gross misrepresentation of the truth.

During its 23 years in office the PPP facilitated wholesale rape of taxpayers through its corruption mechanisms, and misappropriated billions of taxpayers’ money. Overpriced contracts like the toilet bowls for the CJIA became a national joke and organised crime became a mainstay of our culture.

Moneys were shifted out of NIS improperly to finance the Berbice Bridge, a financially ill-conceived project. Today the NIS is encountering financial problems because of these investments, and will very likely have to be bailed out with taxpayers’ money.

The Marriott was built out of misappropriated funds from NICIL that were supposed to be transferred to the consolidated fund.

Mr. Donald must also know that the PPP ran GUYSUCO into the ground, without any mechanism for relieving sugar workers, either through GUYSUCO itself or via the state. Today it seems the complete disembowelment of the company and its sugar workers are on the cards.

Rice farmers were also given a shellacking over the years of PPP administration as a result of corruption which was facilitated by the PPP itself in the major rice organisations. Surely Mr. Donald must know that the PPP crucified its own supporters left, right and center.

It also minced the entire country with poor recovery mechanisms from the economic transformation of the 90s, leaving many Guyanese struggling in poverty for decades. Children were denied their right to proper diet and education under the PPP. This was not a glorious time, Mr. Donald, it was an economic crime.

What about those well contracts, where the contractor received tens of millions of dollars for nothing? Where were the governance systems under the PPP, Mr. Donald, under your foot? Yes Mr. Donald, the PPP, along with other governance systems were kept out of the law books so the PPP and its business cronies could go on siphoning off billions and billions of taxpayers’ money as part of the normal course of government operations Mr. Donald. I can go on and on Mr. Donald, but the point has been made.

So stop peddling lies to a population that your PPP deliberately left in ignorance so that they were unable to fend for themselves at the policy level Mr. Donald, just so the PPP could continue conning and robbing them, as the white collar criminals the PPP members are, Mr. Donald. The PPP’s supporters would do well to start mustering their political and financial capital to create an alternative to the PPP, because if they don’t, it’s almost a certainty they’ll be thrown back into the PPP’s grinder.

Regards,
Craig Sylvester