Dear Editor,
It sometimes is invaluable for one to reflect on what ‘hypocrisy’ is. It can be defined as the state of pretending to have beliefs, opinions, virtues, feelings, qualities or standards that one does not actually have.
On reading the AFC’s statement, and that of the Leader of the Opposition, on salary increases for teachers, I felt compelled to vent my repugnance at these hypocritical utterings. It would seem that Mr Norton now realises that the mental wellbeing of teachers should be a priority.
I must draw the attention of Messrs Ramjattan and Norton to some of what they promised the people of Guyana: such as ‘significant salary increases for Public Servants; 20% increase across-the-board to sugar workers; no closure of any sugar estate; $9,000 per bag of paddy, etcetera.
In the Kaieteur News of October 6, 2022, the headline blasts “AFC proposes $100,000 pay hike for teachers”. Sounds goods, but what has the AFC ever done for teachers when they were in Government?
It was an AFC Minister who, in 2015, said the 50% hike in salaries and benefits for Ministers was “fair” and “necessary”, and the people of Guyana must “trust” them; but, in the same breath, refused to pay the teachers at the bottom of the scale in 2015 one cent over $50,000.
Now these snake oil salespersons in the AFC are coming with their crocodile tears, demanding $100,000 for teachers when they refused to do anything good for those in education and the other sectors when they were in power during the period 2015-2020. What did they give teachers in 2015? A measly 5%. What did the Ramjattan cabal give themselves? Ten times that rate (50%).
To compound the deception, disingenuousness, and hypocrisy of the APNU+AFC leaders, in the same year 2015, it was none other than the man in charge – Mr. Joseph Harmon – who said he would make no apologies for the 50% salary increase to Cabinet Ministers, arguing it was well deserved. Well, the pertinent question is: Was $100,000 per month for the teachers also not well deserved in 2015 under these APNU/AFC chatterers?
The PPPC Government is cognizant of the needs of all Guyanese, and would give increases at the right time to ensure that the inflation rate is kept in check. We all know that once the budget allows it, President Irfaan Ali and Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, who both come from humble beginnings, would do all in their power to give the best to all workers, especially the teachers. The Government does not need the deceptive cries of the hypocrites to be a reminder of the needs of the working-class Guyanese.
For those who do not know, His Excellency the President grew up in a home that is headed by a mother and a father who are dedicated teachers, and thus he intimately knows of the challenges of the teaching profession. So, Mr. Ramjattan can stop clutching at straws and deal first with the mutiny in the AFC against him, and address his record of poor leadership while in Government and seek to temper his wild talk, which is full of hot air and baloney.
The more he speaks, the more his political platform, built on deception, crumbles, because the people continue to see him for who he really is: a political opportunist who, when given the chance to serve the people between 2015 and 2020, chose first to serve family, friends and cronies rather than teachers, nurses, Police, soldiers and sugar workers of Guyana.
It is these people in the AFC and the APNU who eliminated some 7,000 jobs in the sugar industry, and then refused to pay the people their severance payments. It took a court ruling to force them to settle with the workers.
Again, it is comical but yet disgusting to see the AFC continuing the programme initiated by the Coalition to provide breakfast to schools, and more recently a bus to aid with transportation. It would be edifying for Mr Ramjattan to read the PPP’s 2015 Manifesto, then he would realise the folly of his statement.
Today, these people suddenly want to champion the cause of the teachers, and by extension the very people they kicked out of jobs. Shame on them for their hypocrisy! The people know, and the evidence will clearly demonstrate in 2025 that there is only one road for Mr. Ramjattan, his AFC acolytes, and the APNU corruptors: that is, the way out of Government forever.
Yours sincerely,
Haseef Yusuf
