A PNC MP in Parliament, Jermaine Figueira, has complained that there is no ethical and equitable distribution of resources in Guyana under the PPP Government. This is in spite of the many investments in health, education, infrastructure, job creation, housing, small business investments supported by the Government, etc. For example, in health care, Budget 2023 is investing a minimum of $126,000 per capita in Region 10, compared with $92,000 per capita in Region 6 and $110,000 per capita nationally. The investment in the Linden-Mabura Road is a game-changer for Linden, the re-establishment of the call center has created hundreds of jobs. The new housing schemes are providing homes for people.
In contrast, when the PNC-led APNU/AFC Government was in place between 2015 and 2020, the call center was closed, no housing programme existed for Region 10, health fell apart, and no major infrastructure programme was in place. But MP Figueira is not in a morally right place to be talking about ethics and equity.
When it comes to lies, misinformation, and hypocrisy, none of us should be surprised when members belonging to the Opposition show they are poster boys and girls for the same. But somehow, we are still shocked when we see one of them misinforming people, when we see one of them guilty of hypocrisy. For example, we have seen Cathy Hughes being hypocritical many times before. Yet when she got up in Parliament and hypocritically objected to someone heckling her husband’s name in Parliament, most of us were still shocked at her audacity.
This is the same woman who just a few short months ago stood in Parliament, read a prepared speech, and disparaged a young Guyanese woman professional who is not a member of Parliament, was not present in Parliament, and has no way of defending herself. Cathy Hughes shamelessly attacked her and breached and violated the Standing Orders of Parliament. She had no apologies, even though she was forced to withdraw her statement. In and out of Parliament, she showed no regret, no remorse, for violating the rights of a Guyanese woman. This is the same Cathy Hughes that tried to object to her husband’s name being heckled in Parliament by someone who was not making a parliamentary presentation. It was sheer hypocrisy.
Hypocrisy, in fact, has been normalized by the members of the PNC, AFC, WPA and the other one-person parties that shamelessly pretend they represent anyone in Guyana. When Aubrey Norton stood in front of a few hand-picked reporters to tell them that his party, the PNC and the now defunct APNU which Norton try to pass on to the nation as something real, had submitted two Mondays ago an almost full slate of candidates, it was sheer hypocrisy, it was not telling the truth, it was utter misinformation.
Here are the facts – out of 610 constituency seats available in the LGE 2023, Norton’s PNC-led APNU only presented candidates for 279 seats, just about 45% of the seats available. Of the ten municipalities, Norton’s PNC, disguised as APNU, presented candidates for only nine municipalities, but failed to present candidates for all the seats in those non- municipalities. Norton’s APNU could not find candidates to compete either in the constituencies or in the PR elections in Lethem. Out of the 70 Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs), Norton’s PNC was only able to present candidates for 15 of them. It is disgraceful for a party that has been in existence for more than 65 years, a party that has ruled Guyana for thirty-three years. The fact is Norton misinformed the nation because, as it turned out, Norton’s party is not contesting most of the seats and most of the Local Government Areas (LGAs).
Norton’s take on the fact that his party could not find candidates for most of the seats and for most of the LGAs, while the PPP is contesting all 610 constituency seats and all 80 LGAs, including all ten municipalities, is that his party paid no one to be a candidate and that the PPP bought, paid people to be candidates. The truth is that Norton found an unwilling population of people who did not want to be candidates, and even when he could have found candidates, he could not find people willing to sponsor candidates. Indeed, in many constituencies and in many LGAs, the PNC is guilty of forging people’s signatures and using people’s names in secret. Even before a ballot is cast, the PPP has won 331 constituency seats and hundreds of PR seats in municipalities and NDCs where there are no contests.
In addition to MP Figueira, another PNC MP also made the same allegations of unethical and inequitable distribution of resources. How more hypocritical can these people be? Did MP Annette Ferguson forget that when young Guyanese sought and were denied scholarships by the APNU/AFC Government, they still found money to give scholarships to her and her cabinet colleague Nicolette Henry, and the children of ministers? These scholarships were from American and British universities. The truth is that Aubrey Norton and his colleagues in the PNC and the so-called APNU and the AFC are out to normalize hypocrisy.
