APNU/AFC’s indecency, dishonesty, lack of integrity

Dear Editor,
Every day, at every turn, APNU/AFC makes the case – there is nothing decent, honest about them. Not being able to ask Guyanese to vote for them based on their track record, not able to press the case for progress to continue, or for going forward and not backward, not able to talk about the “good life”, APNU/AFC settled on “honesty, decency and integrity” as their tag line for the 2020 general elections. But at every turn, every single day, with every new opportunity to open their mouths, their indecency, dishonesty and a lack of integrity are fully exposed. David Granger telling people at the APNU/AFC’s Anna Regina rally that APNU/AFC brought banks, roads, restaurants, factories etc to Essequibo was dishonest and indecent. Never mind that even among the assembled people in Anna Regina, most were from outside of the region, having been boated and bussed-in with Government resources, including extra ferry service.
In the last five years, the Granger-led APNU/AFC has done little to nothing in Region Two – Essequibo. The banks were there before 2015, a legacy of the PPP/C. The fire station was there before 2015. After 2015, no new roads were constructed, no new housing scheme, no new schools and God knows what factories Mr Granger was talking about. Which restaurants exactly is Granger taking credit for? Those giving Mr Granger those talking points should be severely rebuked. I want to believe Mr Granger is being fed drivel by those around him. The false boasting taking credit for things done before 2015 is dishonest, indecent and a total lack of integrity. Is Mr Granger a victim of false information or is he knowingly boasting about things they never did? Let people judge for themselves.
APNU/AFC lied to the rice farmers of Region Two and around the country. They promised better paddy price, doing so on TV in Region Two, at public meetings and at their 2015 Anna Regina rally, promising rice farmers $9000 per bag of paddy. In the five years, rice farmers have had paddy prices less than they had in 2014. They promised rice farmers more and better market for Guyana’s rice. They lost markets and export less rice today than in 2014, exporting more paddy, resulting in less export earnings. They boasted recently that Venezuela is still the largest market. But the truth is the government-to-government Venezuelan market was squandered by the Granger-led APNU/AFC. Today, private millers have been making their way back into the Venezuelan market, but at prices that are just about 50 per cent what it used to be. The Mexico market was always there for the taking, we just wanted them to buy our rice, not our paddy. The Panama market which should have reached 200,000 tons in 2020 is even less than the 2014 amount. They betrayed rice farmers and the rice sector, there is nothing decent and honest about this.
Mr Granger did not explain to farmers why his Government removed the subsidies for agriculture equipment, thus raising the production cost. He did not tell them why his Government removed waivers on all taxes on agriculture chemicals. He failed to tell them why there is no fuel subsidies. Mr Granger should have told the people of Essequibo, even if most of the people he was directly talking to were not from Essequibo, why assisting farmers to get quick payment for their paddy was stopped by his Government, on the basis that the farmers are private and that the Government has nothing to do with them. He failed to explain why farmers have had no help and a missing in action Minister of Agriculture when they battle paddy bugs, floods and droughts.
He failed to tell them that the Lima pump they commissioned with great fanfare in 2015 was a project under the PPP, one that started in 2014. He failed to tell them why the Devonshire Castle Pump, a project slated to start in 2015 is only now getting started, that is assuming it is not an election gimmick. Mr Granger did not explain why the Aurora Agriculture Land Development Scheme which was intended to open up 4000 hectares of land for farmers was abandoned in 2015.
Mr Granger did promise that cash grants to families with school children will be one of the uses of oil money. But he failed to explain why his Government immediately stopped the cash grant that was already in place in 2014, the PPP doing it without oil money. Why should people believe him now that the cash grant to families with school children will resume? Has he forgotten that the very first oil money arrived in Guyana in 2016 and that it was his Government that hid the $US18 million from the Guyanese people, with the money placed in a secret Bank of Guyana account? Has he forgotten that just a few days ago, Jordan, his hand-picked Finance Minister, told the nation he thought it was a gift? A gift to whom? He could have used a minute or two to finally come clean and tell the Guyanese people where the US$18 million oil money is.
The truth is that the Anna Regina rally was another occasion that exposed the indecency, dishonesty and lack of integrity of the Granger-led APNU/AFC. There is nothing decent, honest about their behaviour throughout this campaign. There is nothing decent, honest in not facing up to the truth. It is time they apologise to the Guyanese people for betraying them, for making empty promises. Essequibo was neglected for all of the five years under APNU/AFC. It is indecent and dishonest to now fly into Essequibo to beg them for their votes in front of a bussed-in, boated-in crowd.

Sincerely,
Dr Leslie Ramsammy