Yours truly, the presumption is that the Granger administration is looking towards the 2020 general elections with much financial panic because just about every avenue of financial cash flows is drying up. The economy remains stagnant. This means that the business men whom the politicians usually rely upon will have less to give. The folks in the Diaspora are publically annoyed with the performance on the coalition government. And while all these realities are steering this government in their faces, the gods of honestly seem to be angrily against them. Because every time they try siphoning some monies through some illegal act, they are being caught with their hands in the financial cookie jar.
They tried with the Sussex Street bond and they got caught. They gained initial embarrassment and contrition, and promised to never do it again. They have since rescinded that crooked contract. Of course, there was the famous ‘BiShan Lin-gate’ scandal. It was noted that the reason for the trip was to trace and secure the US$500 million that is owed to the peoples of Guyana. Be it known that that trip is long over, two years have passed, and the monies are still unaccounted for.
The Guyanese people were appraised by the media, to several other shenanigans and corrupt acts, since this government came into power a few years ago.
Now we have the ‘ExxonMobil-gate’. The government was caught hiding the very first monies that Guyana obtained from our oil. That cannot abode well for the future of oil in Guyana. Ol’ people does say – Wha gon’ bad a morning, can’t come good ah evening. It is no doubt that the government was nefarious in their act to keep that money secret from the Guyanese people. No matter how one spins that behavior, it remains a mystery as to why the Granger administration would hide over $4 billion from the Guyanese people. Even the auditors that the administration hired were not aware of that ExxonMobil money.
Let’s take their argument that they wanted to pay lawyers to defend Guyana against Venezuela’s claim to our territory. Why not publically declare the monies but secretly pay the lawyers? Or at least call in the opposition leader and tell him of the urgency (there is really no urgency), of the need to keep the funds a secret?
The truth, as the United Republican Party (URP) sees it, is that the Granger administration was planning to use that money as an investment in their elections war chess. They are broke and nervous. They have lost the support of many of their larger donors. They have lost the sparkle of many of their local, loyal, foot soldiers and they are hemorrhaging politically, daily. I just had a conversation of one of the largest Afro-Guyanese congregation leaders and he told me that he has lost confidence in this administration. No doubt that displeasure will be translated to that Spiritual Leader’s followers.
Meanwhile, the PPP has all the monies they collected – legally and illegally – while they were in office. They still have the support of the biggest and most connected of Guyana’s business men and women – in and out of Guyana. The folks in the diaspora are slowly returning to their fold. And the PPP has been able to muster a resurgence in their traditional support base. The APNU/AFC coalition is in a financial panic mood as they look towards 2020. Desperate people do desperate things, so expect more attempts at crookedness in the next few months.
The government assumes the parenthood of the entire nation; for all the citizens, whether they voted for them or not. And no matter how old we are, or our religious persuasion, we all still expect and appreciate gifts at Christmas. However, we have a government that is made up of a bunch of tone deaf leaders. I often wonder how is it that Guyana seems perpetually plagued with leaders that never seem to understand that we are the easiest people in the world to please. It does not take much to make Guyanese people happy. Yet both the PPP and the ‘PNC’ Coalition behave in ways that prove that they are just contemptuous with regards to our feelings. The government just presented their budget and of course, it is larger than the previous one; just like the previous one was larger than the one before. However, what struck me was that the government is touting the work they put-in in bringing a budget this early. The United Republican Party (URP) would love to say that we appreciate the timely budget. But we can’t say that because the budget is not a people’s budget. For one, the URP – like most Guyanese – believed that the reason the public servants were given that arbitrary, measly, anti-union, wage increase a few months ago, was because the Government wanted to surprise the unions and all of us, by gifting us with an additional increase as we entered the festive season and the new year. But not only did the government not offer a much deserved wage increase, they did not even give their “children” a Christmas bonus! What parent does that?! How could you present a budget at Christmas and not have at least a little Christmas present in it? How anti-festive and Grinch-like can this Government be? The Minister of State said a few days ago that the budget has brought smiles to the faces of the bulk of the Guyanese people. I would like to ask the Minister were he has found that “bulk” that he referred to. This budget has landed with a thud on the emotions of the Guyanese people. The budget is filled with capital works projects that will see huge contracts going to the families and cronies of the current administration. Additionally, this tone-deaf government has chosen the Christmas season to dole out retrenchment letters and notices of further sugar estate closures. Who does that?! How insensitive must you be to take the most wonderful time of the year and make it the worse time of the year, for so many people? The news of retrenchment is bad at any time of the year but to spring it on folks at a time when everyone is programmed to be happy and joyous, is mean-spirited, cruel and visionless. The URP will offer its official take on the contents of the budget at a later date. Suffice it to say that we are very disappointed with the structure of the budget. For a government that has observed the failures of the last administration for over a decade. For an administration that swept into power on the backs of the weary and frustrated, ordinary, working-class citizens of this country, we are totally disappointed that this budget offers nothing inspirational or transformational. To say the least, this budget – while the largest – is the most disappointing one to date. And further, if the same approach of the under utilization of these funds are exhibited, as was seen over the last year, we will come to the end of 2018 just as broken and frustrated, as we are at the end of 2017. Our political parents have disappointed us!