Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
May 16, 2018 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
The ethnically driven party loyalist in Guyana has a troubled psychology. He/she lives with a lacerated conscience, and that does make for a rational existence. He/she ignores reality every day. He/she chooses to ignore the bad things their party in power does, knowing these things are wrong, but party loyalty and ethnic instincts force them to become like robots. And they are not happy without it.
They are psychologically trapped humans. I have met literally countless East Indians who were/are like that. During my gallivanting in the countryside when the PPP was in power, I heard so many maudlin cries about the lack of essential services, but those very lamenters voted in five consecutive national elections for the PPP.
African-Guyanese are now borrowing the trapped psychology of their Indian counterparts. No recklessness, no depravity, no immorality, no abomination, no abuse of the coalition regime will be denounced by a majority of African-Guyanese, because they feel that they are “their people” in power” and they don’t want to and must not criticize “their people in power.”
So after a tarnished, jejune, effete, incompetent three-year-old balance sheet of the coalition administration, African Guyanese are going to crucify the non-PPP critics of their government.
It is there since the APNU+AFC won in 2015. The most egregious one to date is a well known African rights activist who penned a letter in all the newspapers directed at me and Dr. David Hinds. In that publication, he described a history of PPP rigging elections then used the words “stock propaganda” to refer to accusations of PNC rigging elections. Then he told me and David to show him proof of the PNC ever rigging elections.
That kind of mind-set is now running around Guyana supporting a ruling coalition that was given the most colossal goodwill any successful election victor could receive from a nation. In less than a month after their May 2015 victory, they were dissolving that goodwill with a semi-secret whopping ministerial salary increase.
The runaway train hasn’t stopped since that month of June in 2015. We are three years now into APNU+AFC governance and in May 2018, there is a raging debate about an anti-crime Bill that can virtually send you to prison for saying the following words; “this government has to go,” never mind all the leaders in APNU and the AFC have used those very words literally countless times since the AFC was born in 2005 and APNU in 2010.
It would take several columns to assess the failure of the three years of APNU+AFC rule. For now, I want to apply the comparative method in assessing the enjoyment of la dolce vita by the elite with the first three years of the Jagdeo presidency – August 1999 – August 2002. A caveat is in order – what is to follow are my beliefs and opinions; they are not backed by research.
To be on the safe side, I will collapse some questions into my opinions. First, did the State spend as much money on travel abroad on Prime Minister Sam Hinds as we have seen for the past three years on PM Nagamootoo? Most definitely, the PPP’s school of ministers from 1992 until it lost power in May 2015 was not as large as what we have today.
Did President Jagdeo in his first three years travel to more foreign places than Mr. Granger in the corresponding three years of Mr. Granger’s tenure?
In talking to the media about the imbroglio where GuySuCo had two boards at the same time, Finance Minister Jordan said he was not familiar with the board nuances (my word) at the time because of his frequent travels abroad. Those words came into my mind as I thought of writing this column on la dolce vita of the APNU+AFC elites.
So the question – between August 1999 and August 2002, did the State spend more or less on ministerial travels than between May 2015 and May 2018? I am going to give my opinion. There are more ministerial expenses in the first three years of APNU+AFC’s rule.
I will end with the institution I know better than all the other institutions in the world – the University of Guyana. Under the PPP’s 23 years, less money was spent on travel and entertainment than what we are seeing now.
The top of the hierarchy of UG is earning more than what obtained under the entire 23 years of PPP rule. Of course nothing is wrong with that, but the Government of Guyana instituted a tax hike on animal-drawn vehicles.
The circus was three years old last week.
Please share this to every Guyanese including your house cats.
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