2020: OUR BEST HOPE

It’s coming up to just two years for this PNC Government – let’s dispense with the pretence that there’s an APNU/AFC Coalition – and the entire country is already focused on the 2020 general elections, and appears ready to vote them out.
The reasons are many and varied, and you can take your pick as to which one or several affect you: the VAT payments on private school fees, airfares to interior locations, utility services, and on many of the once zero-rated items; the loss of jobs for sugar workers and loss of export markets for rice farmers; the hike of MMA/ADA rental fees for Mahaica and Mahaicony rice farmers; the ban on importing affordable used tyres; the mistreatment of miners; the bypassing of importers of pharmaceuticals; the public service witch hunt and loss of jobs, especially among Indian Guyanese; the contentious parking meter project.
There is discontent across the land, and some citizens are already defaulting on loan payments to banks because of the burden of increased taxation and/or because they are now unemployed as a result of the tanking economy.
Republic Bank has reported a 4.5 percent drop in profits for the six-month period ending March 31, 2017, compared to the similar period in 2016, largely due to the increase of 9 million that was required to cover loan losses.
These depressing figures underline the concerns of the business sector, which is genuinely troubled by the economic downturn but whose many suggestions to the Granger Administration as to the incentives and measures needed to reverse the downward trajectory continue to be ignored.
The irony of it all is that the Granger Administration appears to lack confidence in itself! There is a dearth of state infrastructural projects two years in, and the investments promised on the campaign trail have also failed to materialise.
Imports of capital and consumer goods, as well as goods needed for manufacturing have all declined because of a lack of confidence in Government’s policies. At such time of waning confidence, people turn to preserving their assets in gold or hard currency, and hoarding has resulted in a scarcity of US dollars on the local market.
Even as fear and discontent grow, we get reports of President David Granger’s trip to The Bahamas on a private plane with a large entourage, which will set taxpayers back million. What business does Guyana have with The Bahamas to warrant this trip and the expense? Or does Granger’s “Nassau Plan” require regular visits to that town?
This does smack of Burnham-like excesses, except that much has since changed and a PNC redux is not likely to be tolerated. The public protests by Guyanese of every race and class disclose a move away from politics as usual and a refusal to heed partisan appeals. This presents our best hope for saving Guyana, for every citizen and both major political parties need to take note of this political maturity.
Whether Granger is indeed trying to set the stage for a PNC-type rigged election in 2020 – the only way they could win, given their dismal track record – he needs to rethink that plan. His spurious reasons for rejecting the nominees presented by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo for the GECOM chair still stand, and no chairperson has yet been named to this crucial position.
Then there is the case of the alleged plot to assassinate the President. That, along with the massive wall being built around the Office of the Presidency, is creating much public speculation. All public buildings should be as fully transparent as the business being conducted therein. Is that wall being built to keep us, the people, out, or to hide what happens behind it? Neither proposition sits well with the public.
Guyana has no history of assassination attempts on heads of state, despite our divided politics. Burnham’s dictatorial regime bears the stain of the assassinations of Walter Rodney, Father Darke and Vincent Teekah. Could the assassination claims be an attempt to mitigate that record, and to provide a reason for an increased militarisation of the state as 2020 approaches?
The Granger Administration should recognise that the widespread and various protests that are ongoing reflect the citizens’ firm belief that they have been artfully conned by the slick words of cheap tricksters, who promised a change that will never materialise.
The 2020 elections should offer more than a chance of payback, however. If we can bring about real change through the polls, the incoming administration would be on guard about fulfilling the wishes of the people, or risk being booted out as well.

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