Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:10 AM
Oct 12, 2014 APNU Column, Features / Columnists
Once upon a time, the 5th of October ¯ the anniversary of the 1992 general and regional elections ¯ was accorded an iconic status in the annual calendar as a sort of quasi-national day. The elections had resulted in the People’s Progressive Party’s return to office four days later on 9th October 1992.
The ‘Fifth of October’ became more than the celebration of an electoral victory. That day, in the post-election euphoria of Dr Cheddi Jagan’s presidency in the early 1990s, was transformed into a major state occasion. The presentation of national awards was shifted from Independence Day, 26th May. There were rallies, symposia, broadcasts to the nation, the printing of laudatory booklets and the publication of congratulatory newspaper articles and advertisements.
Things have changed. This year, 2014, observances were muted, a sign perhaps that the PPP is suffering from intellectual exhaustion. It is more likely a sign that the population is suffering from PPP fatigue or, indeed, that there was simply nothing to celebrate.
The PPP’s return to office led most certainly to the gradual ‘criminalisation’ of the country and the abnormal accretion of power in the state. During five consecutive PPP administrations – those of Cheddi Jagan, 1992-97; Samuel Hinds, 1997; Janet Jagan, 1997-99; Bharrat Jagdeo, 1999-2011 and Donald Ramotar, 2011 to the present – these tendencies precipitated several grave crises. The cumulative effects have been the paralysing of the economy, the polarising of society and the precipitation of political confrontation.
The public security crisis is the most severe. Armed robberies, banditry in the hinterland, murderous maritime piracy along the coastland, suicides, fuel-smuggling, gun-running and contraband smuggling still prevail. The combined cost of corruption, cronyism, graft and the narco-driven crime wave has taken a toll on the people’s quality of life.
Public services are in crisis. Regulatory and law-enforcement agencies – most particularly the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit; the Environmental Protection Agency and the Guyana Energy Agency – have been starved of adequate assets, equipment, financing and personnel to such an extent as to impair their ability to function effectively. The Government Information Agency, the National Communications Network and the Guyana National Newspapers Ltd (Guyana Chronicle) rigorously exclude Opposition political parties and the dissenting views of civil society. The state media have increasingly become agencies of the ruling political party – the PPP.
There is also a severe human development crisis. Public protests have become the most effective expressions of resistance against the PPP’s mismanagement of public health, public security, public works and the public education system. Guyana, in the new millennium, has become more unsafe, unsanitary and more unstable than ever before, owing to the high rate of crime and the low quality of life.
PPP policy-makers frequently criticise civil society – especially the Amerindian People’s Association; Guyana Human Rights Association and the Guyana Trades Union Congress. The PPP, however, persistently fails to address the core issues of local democracy, poverty and unemployment which plague society.
Youth are in crisis. Unemployment is the central issue affecting young people. The PPPC administration’s delay in dealing with the jobs crisis, and its disregard for measures to solve it, can detonate a social explosion which could have dangerous consequences. Young people suffer most, owing to the fact that school-leavers are inexperienced and have a long wait before they find their first job.
The state of the public education system is parlous. Public schools are producing an increasing number of illiterate and innumerate youths. The Ministry of Education reports that nearly 7,000 children drop out of our primary and secondary schools yearly. Children who do not complete their elementary education satisfactorily will find it difficult to get jobs as adults. The majority of university graduates, unable to find employment, remain under- or un-employed, or join the throng of thousands who emigrate every year.
PPP apparatchiks do not seem to understand why their party is failing. They cannot comprehend the reasons for the loss of trust and confidence, even of its once staunch supporters.
The party finds itself being rejected by the public because it’s concept of democracy was never about creating autonomous local democratic and other collective structures to empower communities. The PPP perceives governance as merely a form of social authoritarianism through which it could control society perpetually. The PPP’s re-entry to office in 1992 marked not a democratic initiative, but the installation of an elected dictatorship. It was an opportunity for the Party to rekindle its desire to transform the country into community it can control.
The PPP’s biggest problem sprang largely from policies adopted specifically in the Jagdeo presidency and which exposed the ideological and political contradictions within the party itself. The combined cost of the narco-driven crime wave, corruption, cronyism and the degradation of national institutions has eroded popular support for the Party and taken a toll on the quality of life of the people.
Guyanese, after twenty-two years, are fed up. Everyone wants a change. For the PPP, the party is over.
JAGDEO ADDING MORE DANGER TO GUYANA AND THE REGION
Apr 18, 2024
SportsMax – West Indies captain Hayley Matthews has been named Wisden’s leading Twenty20 Cricketer for 2023, as she topped all and sundry, including her male counterparts. Alan Gardner looks...Kaieteur News – For years, the disciples of Bharrat Jagdeo have woven a narrative of economic success during his tenure... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Waterfalls Magazine – On April 10, the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]