Dear Editor,
The massive socio-economic development that is proliferating across every sector in this country is unparalleled as it is extraordinary. Unfortunately, there are a few who keep harping about corruption and marginalisation and keep moving the goalpost as the PPP/C Government continues to deliver beyond what was promised. I will just illustrate this with the most recent example.
In a news article on 11th November which read, ‘GTU flays President unilateral announcement of benefits’ and the article stated that, ‘GTU General Secretary Coretta McDonald yesterday waded into President Irfaan Ali for his Thursday announcement of benefits for teachers as she charged that it breached the principle of collective bargaining and was “disrespectful” and “dictatorial”’.
This is the type of hypocrisy that characterises the APNU-backed Guyana Teachers Union. It was reported in the Guyana Chronicle dated November 14,, 2019, that, ‘President David Granger announced on Wednesday that public servants earning between $100,000 and $1M will receive an 8.5 per cent increase; those earning less than 100,000, a nine per cent increase and those earning a minimum wage of $64,220 will receive in their December pay cheques $69,336, a sum in excess of their basic salaries’. This included some allowances as well. Was this not ‘disrespectful’ and ‘dictatorial’?
During the coalition’s tenure in office, there has been an ongoing scenario where despite the GTU and the GPSU making exorbitant and preposterous demands for salary increases and other benefits, it always boils down to acceptance of what the coalition Government has to offer.
This resulted after much drama and threats of strikes and arbitration. I simply ask the readers to Google the dramatisation that took place between the coalition Government and the GTU/GPSU between the years 2016 to 2019. I could vividly recall the demand for ‘nothing less than 40%’ for 2016 and 5% thereafter and indeed there were lots of ‘gyaff’ between President Granger and the Unions but the demands always fizzled out and the Government offer was accepted. This was the reality of the ‘collective bargaining agreement’ which became a nugatory rhetoric during that time. However, the GPSU and the GTU will never cease to support the PNC to which it has a filial relationship.
How Granger justified this can be gleaned from a statement which he made earlier. He had said that the salary increases given, ‘…is not a final offer, it’s an offer which allows the Government to get on with business and allow the public servants to enjoy the increase in pay to which we feel that they are entitled…we can’t have the public servants suffering because of the slow pace of negotiations’. But for President Ali to do that, mind you offering far more to everyone including pensioners and those with disabilities, is a grave travesty and he is seen as ‘disrespectful’ and a ‘dictator’.
The notorious Opposition will never again be able to fool the people – in less than five years Guyanese experienced everything which the PNC became infamous for: corruption, mismanagement, cronyism, bankrupting the economy, and above all, attempting to blatantly rig the 2020 Elections to keep itself in power. The lives of every Guyanese are getting better with each day and the Government is doing far better to combat the rising cost of living than most governments the world over.
Yours sincerely,
Haseef Yusuf
