…to a lot of newness
Well, here we are, Dear Reader – 2020!! And isn’t it serendipitous that the number signals the standard for perfect sight – 20/20?? For your Eyewitness, he feels like bursting out into that evergreen Johnny Nash oldie: “I can see clearly now!” Remember the words? “I can see clearly now the rain is gone/ I can see all obstacles in my way/ Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind/ It’s gonna be a bright (bright)/ Bright (bright) sunshiny day!”
The song came out in 1993 – just after the PPP had defeated the PNC at the first free and fair elections in 28 years and started to put things right in his beloved homeland. Yes, the pall of the Burnhamite dictatorship – lifted a bit by Desmond Hoyte a couple of years before – was now completely gone! And all the obstacles to our development – the bankrupt economy, the crime-infested society, the corrupt officials, the widespread poverty, etc – could now be identified to be tackled by the PPP Government!! Yes…it was going to be a bright, bright sunshiny day!!
In March of this year, there’s gonna be another election, following another PNC regime. This time, it was thankfully only for five years!! But looking at the damage they’ve created in that short time; you’d think Granger was in a hurry to fulfil his pledge to live out his mentor Burnham’s legacy – of destruction, that is!! While we’re still a divided nation, the PNC’s inability to keep up the progress initiated by the PPP after their yeoman efforts to fix the damage in their first iteration, it’s your Eyewitness’s firm conviction that a lot of the PNC’s erstwhile supporters’ eyes have been “cleaned” and they too can see clearly now!!
Enough of them can see through the callous manipulation of their sentiments by the PNC – especially after they joined forces with the AFC. And repeated the exact betrayal of the 1968 PNC with their then coalition partner – the UF!! A significant chunk – including supporters of the dead meat AFC, which didn’t even have the pride to walk out! – will now see clearly that the PPP’s the only hope for Guyana. Especially, now that at long last they’ll have the wherewithal to fund their development plans. The PNC’s so clueless, they couldn’t punch their way out of a paper bag, much less the “resource curse”!!
Your Eyewitness can also clearly see that the PNC will invoke all the old bogeymen they’ve manufactured over the years against the PPP. But you can’t fool all of the people all the time!!
Guyanese can see very clearly this year; they’ll see the last of the PNC regime!!
…to ending PNC mamaguy
Caretaker Granger used the occasion of re-swearing-in the incumbents of the municipal and RDC officials to give them some gratuitous advice. “Gratuitous” because it would’ve done him a world of good – not to mention all Guyana – if he’d taken his own advice!! He lectured his captive audience: “Serve your constituents regardless of political affiliation”. But what about how he served his own constituents – which, as President, was all Guyana – after he got into government??
He ran an administration that was more discriminatory to the political opposition than even his mentor Burnham. Jobs? Check his Cabinet; Permanent Secretaries; Department Heads; advisors and even sweepers!! Spending? Compare Anna Regina and Corriverton! Development? Compare $2.6 billion for rural development in Ithaca, BV, Buxton and Mocha to Gangaram, Cane Grove and Lima Sands! Culture? Compare spending on Emancipation vs Indian Arrival Day! Employment? Compare the hiring of 7000 People’s Militia/Public Servants – esp OP/Police/Special Projects vs 7000 fired in sugar industry!!
But all of this discrimination will come back like a boomerang to knock Granger and the PNC into history!!
…for Guyana’s interest
How many times must we Guyanese turn our heads and pretend that we just don’t see how Granger has trampled on our Constitution?
The answer, my friend, will come March 2!!
