No amount of sloganeering will transform lies into truth

Dear Editor,
If ever a political party has a penchant for pedalling slogans which they never live up to, it is the APNU/AFC. In fact, these slogans have always amounted to nothing but devious, hypocritical and deceitful utterances. These slogans began in earnest as soon as they assumed office in 2015 and since then, their sloganeering have become outright lies and dishonesty! They believe that by continually repeating these empty and incoherent phrases, they can convince and persuade the people of their ‘achievements’ and that indeed these people are living the ‘good life’.
Let us look at some of these slogans. The 2015 Budget was presented under the theme, ‘A fresh start to the good life in a green economy’. At the end of 2015, it became clear that the ‘fresh start to a good life’ belonged to Granger, his ministers, families and cronies and the only ‘green’ in sight was the painting on practically everything in sight with the PNC colour! Then, in 2016, the Budget said that the ‘good life beckons’. But in 2016, the only ‘beckoning’ done was the closing of four sugar estates and the ‘beckoning’ cries of hunger and poverty from the multitudes of dismissed workers. It was clear that the elusive ‘good life’ having been promised in 2015 became increasingly elusive in 2016.
Then again, ironically in 2017, the Budget claimed to be ‘delivering the good life to all Guyanese’ but this was amidst rising cost of living, soaring unemployment and debilitating taxation which began wreaking havoc to the disposal incomes of the masses. There was no light at the end of the tunnel as the Budgets continued to bet bigger and the people continued to get less and less from it. The bribery and corruption reached unprecedented heights as the Auditor General’s report provided documentary evidence of the fraudulent and corrupt activities in every sphere of Government.
Amidst this background, the Government in presenting the 2018 Budget was audacious enough to tell the Guyanese people that, ‘the journey to the good life continues’. How can the ‘good life’ be continued when it has never ever begun? In fact, even ‘that which they (the people) hath was taken away’ by a greedy, selfish and utterly corrupt Government!
In 2019, the Government suddenly realised that there is need to ‘transform the economy, empower the people, and build sustainable communities for the good life’ to actually begin. So the coalition came a full circle after wasting and stealing more than $1.3 trillion with the ‘good life’ journey yet to begin. But what is evident is that the poor have become poorer! It is a blessing that the coalition has been denied the opportunity to present another ‘good life’ Budget in 2020. Now the only ‘good life’ one can discern are the countless Chinese ‘Good Life’ supermarkets which are now strung across the coast. The coalition stole to the extent that more than 23 persons are deathly afraid to declare their assets to the Integrity Commission.
In 2015, the coalition’s campaign slogan was ‘It is Time’, and by now we know what that means—it was ‘time’ to plunder and squander! The Treasury, the various Reserves and the Exxon deal provided the loot. We are now hearing that the coalition squandered an opportunity to give Guyana US$55 billion. This coalition has even stolen from our future revenue and robbed our unborn children!
Then, in 2020, if one is to analyse its campaign slogan is ‘Don’t Stop the Progress’, then one can conclude that the ‘progress’ only refers to their own personal lives and those of their cronies. In fact, the lives of Guyanese have retrogressed sharply since 2015. In addition, in 2020, the coalition wants Guyanese to believe that by singing the mantra about ‘decency, honesty and integrity’ that the Guyanese people will be fooled once again. The PNC baptised itself many times and fooled the people but that façade has been lifted once and for all and the ‘third eyes’ of Guyanese have now removed that veil to reveal the indecency, dishonesty and crookedness of the PNC of old.
No amount of sloganeering will transform lies to truth and Guyanese will no longer be blinded to the truth! Indeed it’s time for the change!

Yours sincerely,
Haseef Yusuf