Every year, Guyanese look forward to Mashramani as a day of celebration in unity. This year’s anticipation however, dampened under a Coalition that seems intent on breaking the Guyanese spirit of festivity. In the first year of its mandate, the coalition Government scrapped Mashramani to accommodate the Jubilee celebrations (except for the children’s parade) while in its second year, President Granger tried to ban alcohol on the regime’s new and unpopular last-minute parade route. And as if to mock the moroseness and stagnation of all aspects of current life in society, heavy rainfall shrouded the country in dismal grey, sapping the joy out of the day’s festivities and reducing the numbers of the habitual Mash crowd. Is Mashramani now cursed?
What could drive President Granger into deciding that alcohol should be prohibited on the Mash route is an intrigue. Perhaps it is the voluntary alcoholism of several high-ranking Coalition members, which pushed him to make such an irrational pronouncement. But if fighting alcoholism is what the President intended, then the better solution would have been to launch a permanent public campaign aimed at reducing the dangers of alcoholism, including during Mashramani, instead of diabolising Guyanese who consume alcoholic beverages and affecting local businesses in the process. The better solution would also involve setting the example within his own Government ranks, but unfortunately, the paradigm of governance in the Coalition is based on the principle of flagrant hypocrisy.
Radicalism and the lack of strategic planning for human and socioeconomic development are what best define the Coalition’s vision. It is a Coalition which, with each passing day, gradually morphs Guyana from a developing democracy to an autocratic State reflective of the will of corrupt leaders; leaders who are either inexperienced in governing a free country or experienced only in running a dictatorship. And it is this unabashed disregard for democracy displayed every single day in Guyana by leaders nationwide, that is demonstrative of the inherent hypocrisy which dictates the not-so-national decision-making process under the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC).
Such is the case of pleading against the corruption of the former administration to win votes, but excelling at the art of corruption, while barely making an effort to dissimulate thieving hands in the Coalition. The parking meter fiasco is particularly interesting in this regard, especially since it illustrates the Coalition’s utter lack of respect for democracy, the rule of law, and the people.
Such is also the case of pretending to be a national unity Government when in reality, ethnic discrimination is prevalent in the public sector and in the policies which devastated the traditional agriculture sector, impoverishing thousands of East Indian families. It is also important to observe the growing display of racism by the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) against the Portuguese business community which is now part of the parking meter protest.
The anti-poor, anti-growth policies which continue to deepen the fissures of social disparities across Guyana and ravage businesses are equally synonymous of the hypocrisy of this “national unity Government”, which eventually forced the Private Sector Commission (PSC) to speak out against the absurdities of the regime. The PSC has rightfully acknowledged that the entire country is on a downward spiral due to harsh tax policies and economic measures which when cobbled with the removal of social welfare programmes, have reduced the people’s purchasing power and practically stunted the economy.
But imbibed with its usual arrogance, the Government remains unapologetic and in denial of its trespasses against the country, dubbing all who stand against its blatant corruption, discrimination and autocratic leadership, as being biased. In so doing it continues to turn its back on Guyanese, bulldozing its way to fulfil its agenda while politicising every institution in the country for its own profit.
In less than two years the Coalition assaulted the accomplishments of decades of development – human development initially stalled by 28 years of dictatorial rule – which when inherited by a future administration, might reveal to be irreversible with long-lasting detrimental effects and little resources left to provide remedies.
In reality, the PNC-led APNU/AFC regime has proven itself to be the very demon against which it promised to fight during its 2015 Presidential Campaign.
