…on double cross
Even though it was consummated in front of hundreds at Whim, the APNU/AFC’s marriage was said to be made in heaven. Even the oh-so-sweet engagement was announced on Valentine’s Day!!. Being a modern couple – and chock full of lawyers – they even had a pre-nuptial “Cummingsburg Accord”. But right after the elections, it all fell apart at the seams when the linchpin agreement – equality of the partners – was violated.
Nagamootoo of the AFC got the “Prime Ministership” as promised – but the Bard’s famous aphorism was turned on its head – it was all in the name! Chairing Cabinet? Naaah!
A year latter, matters came to a head at an AFC’s retreat and some decided “enough was enough”. The point, of course, was the AFC hadn’t been given enough power – as promised in Cummingsburg. Other leaders, however, believed the retreat (noun) signified “retreat” -the verb and decided to disassociate themselves from the statement of discontentment. It was all too much for the Chairman of the party – who promptly resigned. He refused to being a “handmaiden”. When the handmaidens begged on their knees, he agreed not to dispute the Party’s claim that it was just an “extended leave”.
But as party supporters across the country followed Hughes’ refusal to go along with the AFC leaders’ refusal to speak out against governmental abuses, the leaders such as Nagamootoo and Ramjattan had to spasmodically assert, “everything was all right”! The APNU and AFC were so close, breeze couldn’t pass between them.! But for some reason the AFC’s decided to host their separate press conference!
What’s going on? If the APNU and the AFC are like peas in the same pod, aren’t Pressie’s weekly carefully controlled recorded press outing, definitive enough for the AFC? It does appear there’s some schizophrenia in the AFC air! Anyhow, this week’s presser, the AFC spokesperson was Dominic Gaskin who was the Minister of Business – to which the “Ministry of Tourism” was added after it was hived off from Cathy Hughes. Nothing to do with her husband taking on APNU for “breach of promise”!!
It has been ordained, after all, “For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.” Anyhow, Gaskin has now cleared up the AFC’s role towards APNU. “The AFC is no police of APNU”.
Meaning the AFC will see no evil, hear no evil and certainly will not speak of any evil!! Especially on salaries!
…on economics
Seems Gaskin had a lot on his mind – cause he said a mouthful on some burning economics questions of the day. One could understand his bureaucratically-trained Finance Minister being oblivious to the difference between “growth” and “development”. To that fella, it’s all numbers. But Gaskin’s supposed to be the owner of a business and should be more au fait about how an economy operates, nuh?
But he not only regurgitated Jordan’s “economic growth” incantation – due to rising gold production but assures us the growth will “trickle down” to the poor slobs at the bottom of the wage scale. How? Through gravity – like with water? We can understanding some of the growth “trickling down” to Gaskin and his jewellery business – but exactly what mechanism will get it into the pockets of the average Joe when the largest gold producers are foreign?
More disturbingly, Gaskin responded to the Public Servants’ demand for a “liveable wage”snorting: “depends on how you want to live”!!!
Well suppose they want to like like Ministers who just doubled their salaries?
…on wage scales
Gaskin also thumbed his nose at the working poor by claiming Guyanese wages are higher than those in many other developing countries!
But did he look at the “purchasing power” of those nominally “lower” wages? Jeez!
