Guyanese can do much better than the coalition

Dear Editor,
Guyana can pay attention to the lessons of its history as it relates to democracy, its meaning, and the consequences of losing it. Democracy very simply means choosing a Government whereby citizens go to the polls to cast a vote for the Government of their choice.
Under this system, the Government chosen is an expression of the will of the people of the State. Democracy is lost when the electoral process of choosing a Government is interfered with, or rigged, so that the will of the people is subverted and a dictatorship, or Government of oppression, is installed.
We are fairly familiar with how rigged elections are conducted. This in essence includes removing original votes cast and replacing them with fake votes. Other mechanisms include frustrating the voting process so that certain sections or groups of persons do not get to cast their ballots. In summary, rigged elections mean that peoples’ votes are ‘stolen’. In this situation, the resulting government, having committed the ultimate lawless act against the people of stealing their votes, has upturned the State’s rule of law, and can now proceed to implement whatever system of economic mismanagement and corruption it desires, in addition to carrying any other lawless deeds.
Previous examinations of the period of Burnham’s and the People’s National Congress’ (PNC) Government up until 1992 have established they were rigged from as far back as 1968. This included the killing of a number of persons who sought to try to stop the stealing and stuffing of ballot boxes. The persons killed fighting to maintain Guyana’s democracy to date stand as Guyana’s unsung heroes and martyrs in the nation’s struggle for democracy with the PNC.
His Excellency David Granger, a major in the Army at the time and now noted historian, could do justice to Guyanese history and document this period for us with his first-hand experience. His accession to Guyana’s highest office will stand out as an achievement in Guyana’s history since Guyanese went to extreme lengths to overcome racial stigmatisation and stop the corruption of the former People’s Progresive Party (PPP) Administration by installing an individual who has been widely documented as being part and parcel of the political machinery that systematically trampled Guyana’s democracy, killed people in the process, and proceeded to run down and destroy Guyana’s economy up until 1992.
In respect of the PPP and sugar workers’ involvement in cramping output in the sugar industry in political protest, the question we have to seriously consider is: Given that our national elections were being systematically rigged, people were being killed trying to stop this, and Guyana’s democracy was being trampled, were the PPP and sugar workers wrong to protest the PNC’s rigged elections and false rule? Why weren’t we all protesting the rigging of elections? Why didn’t the entire country come out against Burnham and the PNC? Answering these questions should help us confront the serious problems that we still grapple with.
Under rigged elections of the PNC years, Guyana lost its democracy and Guyana was sent into poverty.
But who would have thought that it could get worse than under the PPP since 2015? This PNC-led coalition Administration has demonstrated in no uncertain terms that this is achievable. The coalition considers the power vested in it by the Constitution gives it the right to proceed to oppress us again with its questionable, if not grossly errant economic policies, (VAT on basic goods, increased taxes and fees, its notion that Guyanese should become entrepreneurs instead of Government stimulating job creation) which has checked economic growth and stifled prospects for higher wages and welfare growth. This is in addition to its suspicious dealings in respect of our national resources, and its brazen attempt to enforce contracts that pilfer taxpayers’ money, notably the bond deal. It should be noted that such contracts are now very probably on the low because of the bad publicity generated. Rest assured if our media ever lightens up, we can very probably expect more of these. The coalition continues to make much ado about oil, but after examining the contents of the contract, can Guyanese seriously expect more than the now standard five per cent post 2020?
Knowing that rigged elections cedes our democracy, rule of law and results in gross economic mismanagement, are we prepared to return to government under the coalition Administration? Can the coalition win in 2020 with its policy matrix? For those of us who continue to preach about the vain hope for change in our two parties, and those who engage in living on false hopes, these are some of the questions we need to seriously consider. I submit that Guyanese can do much better than the coalition. Our failure to deliver better results will only produce results we could do well without.

Yours faithfully,
Craig Sylvester