Time is now when we must all step up to protect Guyana’s future

Dear Editor,
Today increasingly, the widespread perception is that the young are feeling not very involved or engaged.  From my conversations with the hundreds of folks who take the time to communicate with me using the various social media channels, I am being told increasingly that something is really wrong with the economic system in Guyana in 2017.
While youth unemployment is a challenge globally at 13.5 per cent, in Guyana, according to the latest statistics from the World Bank, it was 25.5 per cent in 2016. If their business is under a clear and present danger because of an oppressive business climate locally, the last thing on employers’ minds is the hiring of another staff.  So, clearly, the main loser from this policy paralysis emanating from a very distracted Granger regime will be the young.
It is most unfortunate that today there is a pervasive rent-seeking attitude from the small group of people that surrounds David Granger. Their public attitudes and private utterances on national matters portray a sort of “the transport for the nation we own now, leave us alone so we can collect our rent”. But if the Guyanese people allow them to get away with this strategic recklessness, the fortunes of the young people will be compromised for a long time to come.
The attempt by the Granger cabal at the monopolisation of the systems of power in the nation totally ignores the fact that they ‘won’ the elections by 4506 votes and even worse yet, the Parliament by a SINGLE vote in Region Eight. With such a narrow margin, greater collaboration and adherence to the rule of law would have been the expected norm.  But what we got instead is Mubarak-ism where a maximum sort of leader walks around in delusion believing that he won 99 per cent of the votes.  This is the problem – the septuagenarians and octogenarians in the PNC are living in a fool’s world.
So what next for the youths of Guyana.  First off, let us all read more on the ideas put forward by our revolutionary thinkers like Walter Rodney. The season of peaceful but firm resistance is upon us, because clearly, the attitude of these septuagenarians and octogenarians in the PNC does not represent the will of the people.  Actually, the imposed edicts of Congress Place since May 2015 have done great harm to the long-term well-being of the young.  The nation has to pull together to stop this delusion of grandeur in the Granger regime.
The time is now when we must all step up to protect the future.

Sincerely,
Sase Singh