Dear editor,
LET me take this opportunity in wishing all a Happy and Prosperous New Year. I wish this year brings more fruits of success for all.  I wish that justice will be brought to the Henry boys, Haresh Singh, and the many others who were innocently murdered, beaten, abused, and sentenced.  I hope that justice will be realised for the death of former national cyclist , Jude Bentley.
Best wishes also to the opposition APNU+AFC and I hope that they will see the need to truly represent the people who put them there, rather than creating unwanted situations for Guyanese.

I also would like to extend Happy New Year to HE the President Dr. Irfaan Ali, his Cabinet, and the Government of Guyana.  I hope that they will continue to put the people first in 2021 and ensure that every citizen is taken into consideration and consulted when making their decisions in taking Guyana forward.

I won’t mention the sadness of the year 2020.  That year brought about many negative and positive things that changed the lives of all Guyanese and the world. While general and regional elections in Guyana were the introduction to COVID-19 that rattled the world and still holding us hostage to its death, so were the 2020 elections. It’s now over and left us with COVID-19.

I would like to first of all say that it’s 2021 and the opposition needs to stop dreaming and spilling nonsense to Guyanese.  Their New Year’s Day message was such, according to INEWSGUYANA headlined, “We will continue to ensure a good life for all Guyanese – APNU+AFC.”  Well, I should say that the APNU+AFC forgot that the 1st of January is always New Year’s Day and not All Fools Day.

The APNU+AFC had five years under that same wording and not one day did they try their best to ensure that they stood and maintained those very words they campaigned on.  Yes, I was part of that APNU+AFC and that is why I can say it.

Those five years can be considered the darkest five years for Guyanese.  The loss of thousands of jobs; racial hiring of people; not a solid economic plan; loss of investment for the private sector; mismanagement of the economy; contracts to family and friends, while kickbacks were the art of the awarding (Region Five is evidence); economic hardship on citizens; spending or using out I should say of the U.S.$18million without Guyanese knowledge; rigged elections, etc.

So, it is sad for the opposition to try to turn New Year’s Day into All Fools Day.  By now they should realise and know they can’t fool the world in any way; it was tried for five long months and the world saw their work.
When we consider the words of that headline in the opposition’s New Year message, it should be given to this government, because that’s what has been happening since they took office from day one.
I don’t want to talk of all the ministries and the development I observe happening in the past five months or so.  They’ve all done well, especially the Ministries of Education, Health, Social Services, Home Affairs, Public Works, and Labour.

For me,the three ministries that did extremely well since the PPP government took office are the Ministry of Agriculture headed by the Hon. Zulfikar Mustapha MP, the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development headed by Hon. Nigel Dharamlall MP and the Ministries of Youth, Sports and Culture, headed by the Hon. Charles Ramson Jr. MP.

Those three ministries did wonders in such little time.  Those ministers must be rated as the most hard-working ministers in government since it took office. Minister Mustapha did more than the others and has been on the ground 24/7, as long as the need arises.  He attends and addresses matters that are of importance and that need urgent attention for development of the agriculture sector.

HE President Dr. Ali and Vice-President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo took this country to a better economic level since they took office.  We saw the inflow of multimillion U.S. dollars investment in weeks and it continues to happen.  We see the opening up of the economy and the citizens starting to have the spending power which they had longed for in the past five years.

We saw what a caring government does in ensuring a good life for all Guyanese. That is giving cash grants as COVID relief to its people.  Cash grants to the hard-working public servants, sugar workers, and also those who contributed to Guyana’s development over the years — the pensioners.  This is in addition to the reversal of several burdensome taxes that were implemented by the previous government.
That is what a caring government does for its people, not bringing hardship and disaster.
So, for the main opposition to utter those words of good life for all, they should and must rephrase and say that they will support the PPP in bringing the good life for all Guyanese.
Have a blessed and productive 2021. Stay safe everyone and don’t forget to wear your masks.

Yours truly,
Abel Seetaram
Former Region Five RDC Regional Councillor