Telling it…

…like it is
Your Eyewitness expects that during election campaigns, Opposition parties would wanna make the Government – and even other parties – look bad. But he was very disappointed that almost all of them to a man – and woman – tried to cloak their barbs with outdated and even fake data!! Take the most notorious claim that we had a FORTY-EIGHT PER CENT poverty rate – while stressing the billions flowing from oil revenues into our coffers!! Now those figures were from a 2019 World Bank Report – when the PNC/APNU/AFC were in charge of the Government!! And most of the present Opposition knew that since they were then in Government!!
Sanction Man’s new WIN party made the same claims. But maybe they can be excused since their leader – trying every which way to earn respectability after he was sanctioned by the Yanks – only dealt with poor people who he sought out to be their Father Christmas!! Outside his palatial quarters bequeathed by his father, who’d been smuggling gold for decades, he wouldn’t have recognised poverty if it crept up and bit him on his bamsie while tooling around in his Lambo… Ferrari, Rolls or practically scraping the basement with his (armoured) Land Cruisers!!
Listening to the lamentations, weeping and wailing of the Opposition, your Eyewitness wondered whether they thought the 146 persons the Stabber interviewed on “How the Cost of Living is Affecting People” over several years represented all – or even the majority – of Guyana. Sure there’s poverty in Guyana – but surely no one expected the PPP Government to make it DISAPPEAR in the five years since they took over from the APNU/PNC/AFC Government?? At the very least, they could’ve conceded that things were getting better!! Unless, like one of the loudest lamentators, Black Pudding Man – they live in foreign!!
But the UNDP – which has no axes to grind! – just came out with their latest Human Development Report. This measures – in their Human Development Index – not just income but is a composite overall of well-being based on income, health, and education. Ours rose to 0.776 by 2023, plunking us firmly in the high human development category!! The average rise after the PPP took over was 2.33 points as opposed to the coalition’s measly 0.90 per cent!! This was higher than the Latin American and Caribbean average!!
Providing evidence of the PPP’s success in delivering development to all sections of the society, the report showed that trust in the Government was extraordinarily high at 70.6 per cent, compared with the regional average of 55.8 per cent!! No wonder the PPP increased their majority in Parliament by making inroads in all communities!!
Critically, it showed that ignoring Black Pudding Man and company’s divisive provocations, our polarisation was lower than regional and global levels!!

…with Bat and Ball
Once again showing we really don’t need international reports on our togetherness, our CPL cricket – which fell this year smack in the midst of the elections and their aftermath – demonstrated that we’ve matured as a people to show the world the meaning of “One Guyana”. Sure, we’ll have different political opinions – we’re human, ain’t we? – but when it comes to supporting our Warriors, nothing can divide us!!
Tonight, our boys are once again in the finals – after giving us their trademark scare, of course!! – and best of all will be facing their old rivals – the Trinidadian Knight Riders!! Since the launch of the league in 2013, this rivalry has grown in intensity – rivalling the classic Ashes beef between the Aussies and Old Blighty!! Interestingly, in the beginning it was Trinis like Narine and Pooran anchoring our Warriors – and they were heroes.
Tonight, they’re with the T&T Knight Riders and will get a good-natured razzing from local fans when on the field against our Warriors!!
Go Warriors!!

…for women in politics
One thing standing out in this year’s elections was the high visibility of our women at all levels – including running their own parties for the presidency.
One of them whupped the established AFC Leader!!