Dear Editor,
I was jolted into motion by the recent decision of the President to reject the second list of nominees for the GECOM chairmanship. I was genuinely saddened at this move, and now solidly believe our nation is being governed by a man seriously out of step with reason; who seems more interested in playing games with our nation’s future than on furthering the significant gains made by the last administration.
Before I go any further, please allow me to say as deliberately as I can that this nation owes the Opposition Leader, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid, and he stands like a colossus among the pygmies in Government, who are bent only on playing their racist politics. I will remind him that “Great spirits generally find violent opposition from mediocrity”.
When the PPP rose to power in 1992, I prayed that the PNC would never return to power in my lifetime; so you could imagine my chagrin and great disappointment when they foisted themselves on the Guyanese people after the elections of 2015. At that time, I told a few people to keep two words in mind: “colossal failure”, which was what the APNU/AFC Govt was going to be. And I felt this way because they (the PNC party) have not shed themselves of their propensity to thuggery and violence, and I’ve always seen their relationship to the truth, as characterized by the element of expedience. Their continuing vilification of the PPP, in spite of that party having delivered Guyana from the abyss, is disgraceful; and although I would forgive those who are too young to understand Guyana’s recent political history, I cannot fathom those bent on political revisionism and blatant intellectual dishonesty.
Broadly speaking, the 28 years’ rule of the PNC was characterized by failure, whereas the 23 years stewardship of the PPP was one not only of success, but of a virtual rebirth in almost every sphere of Guyanese life; and for those who question this assertion, I would invite them to cast themselves back to 1992 and think of what our objective condition as a nation was at that time. Simply put, Guyana was virtually a hellhole. The PPP first had to stop the haemorrhaging in the economy, then begin the long process towards rebuilding every dilapidated sector; and this with one arm tied behind its back, since the PNC was always obstructionist, and ALWAYS chose to act more like a petulant child than to partner in development with the government of the day.
I will urge the opposition and the international community to remain vigilant, in order to ensure there is no engineering of our electoral process; which will push the next general elections beyond 2020.
Sincerely,
Mark Agard
