Dear Editor,
I pen this letter today about something that has consistently exposed itself over the last 3 years with regard to this Granger regime. It is critical that the poor and the working class understand what is happening in Guyana today, and be allowed to bring power to this truth: the Guyanese problem is not unsolvable; it has a solution. It is just that President Granger remains clueless on this solution.
We have had too many instances of extremely bad doses of political leadership in Guyana for too long. Accurate history will reveal that the worst of the lot is David Granger. This Granger Government is the worst of them all. I want the nation to appreciate that, with David Granger at the helm of Guyana, it will not get any better, because his priorities clearly are not what are needed to socially and economically transform the nation.
Let me explain my position: Being a President is more than cutting a few ribbons and accrediting a few diplomats here and there. Being a President is more than wasting G$1.5 billion on an underused parade ground to host multi-million “mass games-type” marching events like if you are in North Korea.
Being a President is more than riding in siren cars and travelling the world more than 100 times at taxpayers’ expense to attend yet another useless conference, rather than bringing back real investable projects to Guyana.
Being a President is knowing when there is trouble in the economy, and taking decisive actions to bring financial comfort to your people. You do not delay executive action with these myriads of commissions of inquiry; you take progressive action for your people within minutes.
The examples are just too many to illustrate that this Granger government really does not care about the welfare of the poor and the working class. They represent a different class interest, and irrespective of race or religion, once this Granger government is in power, the working class will be suppressed.
The absence of timely and sensible intervention in a place like the sugar industry can be regarded as the biggest crime of this decade, along with a determined effort by the ruling elite to tell you that there is no money for you. Isn’t this what Mr. Granger told the teachers on May Day 2018? Isn’t this what Mr. Granger told 7,000 sugar workers when, with one stroke of his pen, he condemned them to a life of sustained poverty?
But what have the Granger cabal done for themselves while they marginalize the people? One week after arriving in the office, most of the ministers got a 50% increase, some more, and the Prime Minister of this country got G$20 million per annum plus lavish perks.
Here is a man who has less responsibility than a low level political operator in the former Government, like Kwame McKoy, but is being allowed to drain the Treasury for more than G$100 million during his 5-year term.
This Granger cabal have increased their travel budget since arriving in office by more than G$1.4 billion per year (sourced from the 2018 Budget). But there is more! The reserves of this country have fallen below US$500 million in 2018 for the first time since 2009, when the economy was much smaller. Government has run up an overdraft at the Bank of Guyana that surpasses more than G$55 billion, the first time in the history of Guyana, I was advised. Some 85% of the gold reserves were sold, and the money already spent. Some G$20 billion was drained from the profitable state-owned entities and spent. There is a common theme here from this Granger regime: plunder and spend, and when the Treasury is empty, they are planning to move to stage two – increase taxes and borrow more and spend more. I want to caution the Guyanese people that all is not well. You need to look at other countries and observe how their Heads of State are taking action when their economies are in trouble. The university-educated youths of Guyana are aware of these shenanigans from these ruling politicians, and that is why some 90% of them are migrating today, compared to 82% in 2011. That is a clear statement that they see no future with a Granger-led administration. That was my message.
Regards,
Sasenarine Singh
