Sacrifice ambitions for country

Our Muslim community have just completed their most holy month of Ramadan, which can succinctly be described as “the embodiment of reflection, revelation, revolution, and restoration through sacrifice”.
“Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) began his journey into prophethood through reflection within. He was searching for a broader meaning in life that would restore justice and peace in society. He was looking for an answer that would transcend the need for material survival and transform humanity into a spiritually wholesome state. He reflected and meditated, spending many years in the sanctuary of a remote cave, surrounded by steep, barren mountains situated in the outskirts of Mecca. Finally, he received the answers in the form of divine revelations. It was in the ninth month of the Arabic calendar, known as Ramadan.
“The very first word of his revelation was “Iqra” or “read” and each chapter of the entire revelations known as the Quran began by invoking ‘the most merciful’ and ‘the most compassionate’ attributes of God. Ramadan opened the door to the illuminated message that Prophet Muhammad would continue to receive for the next 23 years of his life. The revelations brought forth an extraordinary revolution of the heart in which blossomed the fragrant flowers of mercy and compassion – the essential building blocks for a just and civilised society. The very first message, “Iqra”, inspired an ignorant nation to glean knowledge from all aspects of life, and then inspired them to share it with others, irrespective of creed, colour, or gender for the common good of humanity. The seed of this remarkable transformation of a people was planted in the month of Ramadan 1400 years ago.”
It is the tragedy of Guyana that even with such an example of sacrifice for the betterment of society being commemorated in our midst, the Guyanese people as a whole have been subjected to the most obscene grab for power in our long history of power grabs by the PNC. What manner of leaders are these who would not even temper, much less sacrifice, their ambitions to remain in Government when the rules of the political determined that they have lost the confidence of the people?
In 2015, the PNC-as-APNU, in coalition with the AFC, had entered Government even though the departed PPP Administration had felt there were some problems with the polls and had filed an elections petition, which is the prescribed recourse in such situations. The latter sacrificed their ambitions and left the peace and stability of the society undisturbed. Even though the PNC went after them with all sorts of trumped-up charges, which all came to naught, the PPP allowed the institutions of the State to perform their mediating functions without protest.
During their term at the wheel, for reasons that are inexplicable to most observers, the PNC-as-APNU embarked on a course of action that not only drove away the non-traditional voters they had managed to bring under their tent through coalition politics, but alienated even their own supporters with their heavy-handed and corrupt governance. Even though they had criticised the salary packages for the departed PPP Ministers of Government, their first governmental act was to increase their own salaries by an astounding 50 per cent while Government workers, promised a “significant raise, received a paltry single-digit increase. The “explanation” by Granger’s de facto second-in-command – that the Ministerial salary increase was needed to “discourage corruption” –- clearly meant that these officials who had entered Government were not prepared to “sacrifice” their quest to live high off the hog, even though they had vied for “public service”.
The wave of corruption that characterised the PNC’s regime since 2015 showed that whatever they accused the PPP of, they were determined to outdo them in filling their own pockets. With oil revenues in the offing, the PNC leaders are obviously chagrined that the disenchantment of the populace has resulted in their electoral defeat.
Can they sacrifice their ambitions for the greater good? Or will they take Guyana down?