Dear Editor,
On January 20th, 1960, a now-late President of the United States of America made a remarkable inaugural statement, which has since become the gold standard for patriotism the world over. He said, ‘Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.’
This statement emphasises the importance of individual responsibility and the commitment to the public good. Citizens must be active participants in the building of their country rather than just prioritise their wants and thus be willing to become passive recipients of benefits from the Government.
Should an individual not put country first?
From time immemorial, the world has seen hordes of politicians who strove with all their might and main to become political leaders to access the seats of power for their own selfish benefits. Of course, this is not limited to gaining Government power only but power in religious organisations as well.
Guyana is not an exception. For nearly three decades, successive PNC Governments have displayed a great propensity to blatantly rig the electoral process to foster their selfish agendas and not to serve their country. It was simply greed for power and money.
It is important to note that the PNC leaders never apologised or exhibited an iota of regret or remorse for their crimes against the people of this country. And despite this, some Guyanese were willing to forgive them and gave them another chance in 2015 since the AFC made a pact with the people that they will hold the PNC accountable if they tread in the wrong direction-they will ‘hold their feet to the fire.’ Sadly, the Guyanese people saw this pact being violated from day one – but then they vowed to hold AFC’s ‘feet to the fire,’ and this came to pass. The AFC became very ‘dead meat.’
Therefore, having been given an opportunity that they squandered and having failed to put our country first, in 2020, both the APNU and the AFC, in order to thwart the will of the people to remain in power, reverted to the old PNC rigging modus operandi.
They attempted to rig the General and Regional Elections in plain sight and then accused the PPP of doing so.
Nagamootoo and Ramjattan, who had experienced the brunt of the PNC riggings and beatings during their formative years in the PPP, were hands in glove with the PNC and to date have not uttered an iota of condemnation for the many attempts to rig.
In addition, Ramjattan shamelessly swore that the PPP hired four Russians to ‘hack’ into the paper-based electoral to rig the Elections in favour of the PPP/C. This is absurdity to the extreme and may be a substance-induced hallucination.
During the 28 years from 1964 to 1992 and from 2015 to 2020, it was never about putting country first.
There are two categories of people who are gravitating towards various political parties, and they have different agendas: those who are serious about their country’s socio-economic development and those who are more concerned about vengeance. Those who put country first and those who put their selfish agendas first.
In the first category are people who were with the APNU and the AFC and are now crossing over to the PPP/C. These are people who have witnessed first-hand the nefarious deeds of the Coalition in Government from 2015 to 2020 and are unwilling to continue with those parties.
To sum this up in one statement: Instead of delivering on promises made, their period in office ‘was marked only by broken promises, no vision plan, crippling incompetence, aloof leadership, arrogant governance, and bad policies, resulting in the economy grinding to a halt with no money circulating.’
They betrayed the people then, so who will believe them now?
This group of people is serious about national development, so they moved to the PPP/C; they made the critical sacrifice for their country.
On the other hand, the next group of people sought to once again destabilise and remove the PPP/C from office, as did the APNU and the AFC in 2015. There is now a plan unfolding whereby the WIN Party has replaced the AFC, and there is no doubt that this party has been having clandestine meetings with both the APNU and the AFC to charter the destruction and destabilisation of the PPP.
This party, like the AFC, comprises many dissidents from the PPP/C who felt that they were given a ‘raw deal’ or that they can achieve their lifelong ambitions for higher office. These people have nothing to offer their country except suffering for the Guyanese people, and they are willing to prioritise their selfish agendas.
Let me explain again.
It happened in 2011 when the AFC and the APNU combined in Parliament to reduce the PPP/C to a minority Government and then finally removed the PPP/C from office in 2015 due to deceptive statements, lies, and fake promises.
What happened to our country during those dark days? Complete devastation of the economy and an unprecedented high level of corruption: a return of the PNC of old.
Fortunately, the PPP/C came once again to the rescue of this nation. Now this group of people wants history to repeat itself.
The WIN Party has now presented a manifesto, which is an expansion and tweaked version of the PPP/C’s, and is offering more ‘goodies’ in a short time.
Whatever is promised is just building castles in the air. And of course he will donate his salary, which should appeal to the sentiments of the people. A man who built his empire on corruption has now vowed to eliminate corruption. This is a hard pill to swallow.
The monies available annually will not match the ‘goodies’ promised, but these promises cannot be legally enforced. Political parties should be held liable for false promises made in their manifesto; it should be made legally enforceable, and only then will this deception stop.
The PPP/C has delivered far more than what was promised in its manifesto, and this is enough ground for re-election since it only promises what it can deliver. Let’s make a manifesto legally binding.
What does the WIN Party have to offer this country and its people? More empty promises and a cataclysmic upheaval of our economy?
Let us put our country first and think about our children, youths, and the future generation – the cost is too great. It may be a situation that may be impossible to reverse.
People beware: a bird in hand is always worth two in the bush. Don’t venture into the unknown.
Yours sincerely,
Haseef Yusuf
