WHO gives the Opposition parliamentarians the right to destroy Guyana? Certainly not those who voted for them, as they would normally claim. I am convinced that the overwhelming majority of those who voted for the Opposition did so because they believed, or at least thought, that the AFC or APNU would outdo the PPP/C and make Guyana an even better place.
The Opposition never campaigned on a platform of the right to destroy Guyana; they promised to make it better. But, alas, the deception of Opposition leaders turned out to be unmatched in Guyana’s history.
The Chief Justice has ruled that the National Assembly does not have the right to reduce estimates of the National Budget. Why can’t they accept that they were wrong in reducing the National Budgets of 2012 and 2013? Is it that their egos, pride and narrow political objectives take precedence over the welfare of the entire nation?
Over the past two years, the opposition has, through their illegal, unwarranted and malicious acts of cutting the National Budgets, deprived Guyana’s economy of over $50B. Guyana has been denied over 50 billion dollars of investments in infrastructural and development projects of huge national significance, investment projects that have the potential to catapult Guyana to levels of development never seen in its entire history.
It is therefore a disgrace and total lack of self-respect for people parading as economists/developmentalists and national leaders not only to deny, but also seek to justify their denial of their country’s critical development projects in excess of 50 billion dollars, using deliberately flawed and deceitful arguments.
The sad thing is that many seem to believe these fundamentally flawed and deceitful arguments. I am sure that the institutions where these individuals got their education must be wondering what a dishonour these people bring to them.
Every student of economics, and moreso economists, knows that to earn you must invest; they know that the infrastructure of a country is the artery of development; if they are not here no development can take place; they know that before you can even talk about distribution/redistribution of wealth, you first have to first create it; they know that with globalisation, it is a desperate fight for survival and to survive you must be and remain competitive; they know that when you miss one year in today’s world, it may take you in excess of five years to catch-up, if you are lucky. As Guyanese would say: “Cat eat you dinner”.
How then can any rational human being make sense of APNU’s point man on economics and finance, Mr. Carl Greenidge, a “qualified Economist” leading the opposition in butchering Guyana’s national budget for two consecutive years? Government is not in the business of hoarding.
It is in the business of spending money to provide goods and services to the people to make their lives better. Has cutting the budget and saving 50 billion dollars of taxpayers’ money made taxpayers’ lives better?
To Mr. Ramjattan, Mr. Granger, Mr. Greenidge and the 30 other AFC and APNU parliamentarians, I say there is no dignity in fighting to destroy your nation, but there is dignity in cooperation, even with your sworn enemy, in the interest of others. There is no dignity in exploiting people’s lack of knowledge, but there is dignity and respect in educating and serving them. It is time you serve your nation with dignity and respect. Stop fighting for the non-existent right to destroy the future of Guyana and its entire narrow population.
Accept the Chief Justice’s ruling; that will be a dignified act. There is dignity and respect in putting your nation’s and not your own selfish political interests first. The nation is waiting and watching.
Faruk Mohamed