We had no oil to subsist on, so how could we build a country?

Dear Editor,
“We had no oil to subsist on, so we could not build this country.” This is the tune that is being sung by the PNC and their acolytes as they try to play down the PPP/C Administration’s trailblazing works in this country.
They keep harping at that tune of having nothing to go on as the “honest reason” for them having a dismal record in the management of this country. At a cursory glance, that statement seems believable; however, a careful examination of the record left by the PNC would tell a different story.
For starters, this country always had a rich and helpful past. Its resources, natural and man-made, worked towards the fulfillment of a rich economy. It started with The Jagan Days, when rice, bauxite, gold and sugar were our mainstay.
Cheddi marshalled those resources in the most skillful of ways to build this country. His training, knowledge and experience demonstrated a remarkable level of proficiency and finesse when it came to the running of a country, and his management skills were simply superb.
During his premiership, Caribbean nationals flocked to this country. Names such as Mahdia and Christianburg were born out of Caribbean Immigration to our shores. The “Palawalas” and other Islanders found refuge here.
Burnham came soon after with his own form of nationalism, when the main income earning resources of bauxite and sugar were nationalized, owned and controlled by a local directorate. We received free education from nursery to university from the proceeds of bauxite and sugar, the latter becoming the catalyst of our export economy. Sugar was taxed, and the proceeds were used as the survival mechanism for the entire country.
Fast forward to the triumphalism of The PNC in 2015, when we found oil as an addition to the foreign exchange income chain. Now, follow the discussion carefully, and you will see what transpired then. There was a lopsided deal negotiated by Nigel Hughes and Trotman, and we were snugly in the deep recesses of a corrupt beast called The PNC right from the very start. We are viewing the corrupt dealings of a finance minister who spirited out of this country our first oil money of US$18M, the ExxonMobil signing bonus.
Even more distressing is the fact that presidential hopeful Nigel Hughes remains tenaciously at the helm of ExxonMobil as its legal representative, his allegiance is to his pocket, and not to the people of this country. Therefore, if he thinks that the Guyanese people are so daft as to allow him to run any government in Guyana, then he needs to think again.
This malignant statement comes up again as the PPP/C Administration continues its nation-building programme in its recent announcement of a US$500 cash grant to every adult citizen of this country. This recent disbursement is just the beginning of a series of handouts that would continue to flow to our nation’s peoples. Cash grants come as a blessing to the people, but stand as a clear indictment on the part of the PNC.

Respectfully,
Neil Adams