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Free UG tuition: The question Arundhati Rai did not answer
It is always intellectually stimulating to read what the writer, Arundhati Roy, of the great 21st Century novel, “The God of Small Things,” has to say about the human condition today. The Guardian (UK) carried in its June 1st edition, an interview with Roy by the columnist, Gary Younge (both Younge and Roy are two persons I admire for their progressive thinking).
Freddie Kissoon
Younge asked Roy one of the most fascinating political questions about our disturbed world today, and I really thought Roy would have opened up and flowed non-stop. I was full of expectations, because the question was bitingly relevant to Guyana in the context of the most opportunistic declaration by the APNU+AFC government, of the intent to have free UG education at a time when general elections are in the air.
Younge asked Roy to explain how right-wing leaders get people to act against their own interests. Roy is handsomely capable of expanding. But she was brief. I was expecting an expansive reaction that I could have used for understanding why the electorate in Guyana would fall for such a shameless piece of deception, when they know it is an election gimmick.
So why do voters fall for the farcical utterances of these unprincipled leaders? Will the promise of free education at UG entice people to vote for APNU+AFC? Do people realize that this is a convenient gift being bandied about just months before an election? If they fall for it, then how do you explain such limited thinking? How does one comprehend the human mind?
During the 2015 election campaign, the same leaders that are pledging free UG education promised changes in the anti-narcotic law. Two lawyers drafted the amendment and handed it to Parliament. It was on the Order Paper to be debated and voted upon in the name of parliamentarian, Michael Carrington. That was in 2016. We are close to another election and the amendment will not be accepted, because the leadership of APNU doesn’t want it.
Another 2015 election pledge was the reduction in VAT. The pledge was kept, only to be reduced to a farce. The reduction of VAT from 16 percent to 14 percent was accompanied by the imposition of VAT on dozens of goods and services that were VAT-exempted. The list includes over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, educational materials, sports gear.
The big guarantee that came out of the 2015 election bandwagon was constitutional reform. It never happened. Four years after the pledge to change the marijuana law and pursue constitutional reform, the pledges remain dead. Now months before the APNU+AFC coalition faces an election battle whose outcome is almost impossible to predict, the nation is given a promise that APNU+AFC will remove fees for students at UG.
Is it another farce? It is, and the two factors I can point to are; the way it was pronounced upon and who made the announcement. First, it was made public at the ‘meet the people’ forum by the Cabinet in Region Two. Faced with hundreds of people turning up to these kinds of meetings which first began at the Square of the Revolution, the UG fee thing was a definite propaganda ploy.
Secondly, look who made the public declaration; of all people, the Prime Minister. Since he became Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo’s Cabinet jurisdiction is more opaque than the black water where the Loch Ness monster lives. He has never announced any policy-direction, any policy re-shaping, any visionary pathway. But on the Cabinet retreat in a predominantly opposition district, the nation is told UG tuition will be abolished if ANPU+AFC is returned to power.
So will voters rush to the polling booths and vote overwhelmingly for APNU+AFC because their children can get a free education at UG? Do people actually believe what Nagamootoo said? The sad thing about humans is that yes, many will believe the promise and will give their ballot to APNU+AFC. How can any human be no naïve? Can we ever understand human nature?
Freud once wrote that there is no such thing as human nature. He also stated that he never understood people. When Freud can say that, who are we lesser mortals to attempt to understand a nationality named Guyanese?
So it comes back to Younge’s question to Roy. How can politicians get people to act against their own interests? It is happening in so many countries, the latest is in places we least expect to see anti-working class autocrats taking over – Italy and Brazil. So will it happen in Guyana as the country heads to a new general poll? Will Guyanese vote for the PPP and APNU+AFC based on jaded, faded and dead promises?
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