Dear Editor,
The “Alliance on the Move” programme aired in Berbice has now become a hilarious version of the “Night of the Living Dead”, the only difference being that these presenters are oblivious of the fact that the AFC has been pronounced dead on more than one occasion and buried deep a long time ago. It baffles the mind, to say the least, and it’s most pathetic to watch Mr Khemraj Ramjattan and Mrs Cathy Hughes trying to convince Berbicians that the PPP/C rigged the 2020 elections and that sugar is dead.
Moreover, the young Member of Parliament, Ms Juretha Fernandes was at a loss to augment their argument as she struggled to find the right words to say that the PPP/C rigged the elections. Maybe in time she will be able to lie convincingly like her compadres, but I hate to see deliberate attempts to wean a promising young Guyanese into the PNC’s world of lies and deceit. The MP began to narrate what happened at the Recount but never provided any example of rigging. She should follow in the footsteps of the many young and talented persons such as former MP, Mr Reynard Ward, Mr Joel Edmond and Mr Michael Leonard just to name a few, who made their exit before becoming tainted by the PNC’s corruption brush.
Ramjattan and Hughes should explain the “rigging” when the entire world at large saw the many coalition attempts to rig the 2020 elections. Those attempts are well documented. Where are the SoPs of the coalition? Until now their supporters have been deprived of the privilege to have a look at these documents. The PPP/C submitted theirs even before the recount started and it coincided with the recount results. That is also well documented and published for the world to peruse. The AFC should use their parliamentary seats to support the Government and so “save some face” and salvage some respect of the Guyanese populace. The spurious legal challenges have done more harm than good for the image of the coalition. The AFC should realise that Berbicians, especially the rice farmers and the sugar workers will not be fooled again. They proved this in the 2020 elections.
The AFC cannot convince anyone anymore that they are of any relevance to Guyana’s political landscape. Even its main political partner in crime, the PNC cannot fool their supporters anymore that the PPP/C rigged the elections now that they have seen that the PPP/C Government is effectively governing on behalf of all Guyanese. The racial discrimination practised by the coalition has been reversed and obliterated. Equal opportunities are given to all Guyanese and the 2021 budget ensured that all Guyanese are the recipients of the real good life, not the delusion foisted on the Guyanese by the coalition. Year after year for five years they made theirs, their families and friends “suck the blood” of the taxpayers. Christopher Jones and Ramjattan deliberately shifted this label in a vain attempt to fit the sugar workers, but everyone knows that the coalition members were the real “bloodsuckers”.
The sugar workers gave this country their blood, sweat, and tears to transform it into a better place. Some paid the ultimate price by sacrificing their lives. Ramjattan and his panel on the programme denigrated the job of cane harvesting as being menial and akin to slavery. Probably, as a politician, Ramjattan has failed to read about the dignity of all types of labour. John D Rockefeller Jnr had said that “I believe in the dignity of labour, whether with head or hand….” It is time that the AFC and the PNC learn to respect the sugar workers who take pride in doing their job. Any cane cutter will boast that their job is independent and they love it. Ramjattan should understand better than most that Berbicians love the fields. It is the reward of manual labour which made him a lawyer not unlike the many others who have reached great heights, but some are indeed ungrateful. There will always be need for manual labour in a world where not everyone can be lawyers and doctors.
It was the height of callousness when Ramjattan bragged about the closure of the estates which snatched bread from more than 7000 workers and their families, with their children going hungry and suffering severe deprivations, some even dropped out of school. How can anyone justify such a move? He and Hughes barefacedly submitted that the decision to close was the best decision. The AFC presenters lambasted the PPP/C’s decision to reopen the estates and made a very illogical conclusion that sugar will fail simply because there will be a shortage of labour. This showed how little they know about what is happening in GuySuCo. They should keep abreast of the various facets of development which are ongoing, including the mechanisation and the value-added investments. At this juncture, there is no place for lies and propaganda, be a responsible Opposition.
The AFC is simply being vindictive since the sugar workers who made them powerful in 2015 have now realised the deceitfulness of the AFC.
Yours sincerely,
Haseef Yusuf
