Guyanese demand better Government and teachers want their money. Pay Them.

Dear Editor,
As a quick preface, it is worthy to note that civilised, competent governments recognise that their workers’ welfare is important and integral to realising a successful, stable society. They implement systems to ensure that workers are adequately compensated, and that social safety nets such as unemployment insurance are available to respond to changes in economic conditions.
Less competent administrations, because of their poor policies which generally undermine the productive capacity of their economies, usually resort to confrontations with workers over better salaries as economic conditions decay.
A quick comparison of Guyana with other countries in the Caribbean and around the world which achieved independence at just around the same time as ourselves, reveals that something is definitely wrong. Most, if not all of these countries, have progressed, with their workers enjoying much better standards of living, inclusive of increased incomes, better educational and health services and improved public infrastructure. Guyana on the other hand, continues to struggle with Government corruption and economic mismanagement, racism in our national politics, poverty and low wages, underemployment and woefully lacking educational and health services, not to mention quality issues with our water, electricity and public infrastructure.
How could this be? What has happened to us? We have had our future stolen from us by the systematically bad Government of our successive administrations over the decades since independence.
A first step to recovering our stolen future now is to begin the process of coming to grips with the nature of our current crop of politicians, their politics and the immediate dynamics we face as a nation. A major consideration should be that given the irrational, anti-democratic and socially destructive policies of the coalition, it is very likely that the old school executives of the People’s National Congress who run Congress Place were successfully brainwashed by Burnham, and seriously consider that his dictatorial politics and policies can work, against all evidence to the contrary.
Crucial also in respect of the current Administration is the recognition that the minor parties of the coalition Administration apparently have little input in policy, so that the majority of the current policy prescriptions emanate from Congress Place, which will learn too late that Guyanese no longer place much confidence in their leadership or administration.
They will reflect later that much, if not all of their policies, were rooted in their errant notion that ‘it was their turn now,’ for another 28 years, when they again resumed office in 2015. With the coalition members becoming more suspicious of their intentions, Congress Place will also have to consider the prospect of contesting the 2020 elections alone.
By continuing to withhold sugar workers’ due severance pay the Granger Administration is willfully disregarding our laws and regulations, which in this case serve to protect our workers from the potential abuses of employers. The coalition Administration is now a lawless organisation. It has descended into an economic war with Guyana’s workers, both public and private. Its recent treatment of teachers and their union is tantamount to pushing fire in our teachers’ faces even as they struggle monthly to make ends meet.
David Granger’s recent disregard for the recommendations of the appointed Task Force overseeing teachers’ affairs speaks to his willingness to disrespect the very officials appointed by his Administration, and highlights the disregard by him and his Administration for the due process of governance. Guyana no longer has a Government in place, but a one-man pappy show.
The recent combative position with the Guyana Teachers’ Union emphasises that the coalition is not anymore supportive of workers’ affairs. The Administration seems willing to now contest with workers’ unions ‘tooth and nail’ for salary increases and amounts that are now owed to them.
Congress Place will realise too late that it should not expect to lose the 2020 elections because of critics who are committed to better Government and improved welfare for workers and Guyanese in general, but because it did not learn from its earlier failures.
The lessons from those earlier years are: 1) Guyanese have no appetite for any hint of rigged elections or oppressive dictatorship; 2) We demand better government. Workers demand their fair share of our national income, and also money that is owed them. It is time the coalition Administration started listening to Guyanese. We demand better Government, and our sugar workers and teachers want their money. Pay them now.

Respectfully,
Craig Sylvester,
Democratic National
Congress