Now that the CCJ has ruled we must proceed to elections, it is time to step back and take stock. As a nation we are at the threshold of great wealth, but being on the threshold does not mean that automatically the ordinary people will benefit. History is replete with examples of countries where the people were denied the benefit of their wealth by a few corrupt officials. Equatorial Guinea is a Prime example. The people of Guyana now have it in their hands to decide their own future.
The PPP’s actions with the giving away of the oil blocks send a warning of the clear and present danger, if PPP is allowed to assume management of these resources again. Ironically, the oil block giveaway was not the first time the PPP corruptly appropriated national resources for friends and family. Pradoville is an example where they took prime real estate for themselves for chicken feed, but asked ordinary Guyanese to pay through their nose for land of far less value. The PPP also giveaway all of the productive forest to foreign companies. The PPP attitude towards national assets is encapsulated in their approach to the stolen lawbooks affair. Here the PPP is claiming that Donald Ramotar, as President, had the legal authority to give over $2M worth of lawbooks, a state asset, to a party member. This is what lies ahead of us. We cannot see clearly in the day, and wait until night to take torchlight to see.
The fact of the matter is, the PPP failed to garner a majority in the last two elections. This argument about the PPP invincibility at the poll is just a myth. However, hard work is ahead to achieve the result that will ensure the nation’s wealth is not exposed to PPP plunder. We all must remain focused. Think of our children and grandchildren, born and unborn, as we make decisions about these elections. Will we allow children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of the PPP executives and their friends to jet set around the world as super rich heirs and heiresses, while our descendants live in squalor in the villages in Berbice, Demerara, and Essequibo?
The vote we cast in the next elections will be a vote for the well-being and welfare of our generations to come. This is not about race. This is not about if you like Ramjattan as the Prime Ministerial candidate or not. This is not about some perceived personal slight, or “I called him and he ain’t call me back.” This is about your future, if you are Indo or Afro Guyanese, Amerindian or Chinese, Portuguese or European. We will all suffer as a result of PPP plunder of the nation’s wealth. Farmers, fishermen, public servants, vendors, teachers etc must all unite for the common purpose of protecting the wealth our children and grandchildren must enjoy.
It is true that a grand coalition of all parties would be the best arrangement to ensure we put in place the best system of checks and balances to prevent corruption and plunder. However, when the electorate mandated such an arrangement in 2011, the PPP rejected that mandate and proceeded with a minority government. The next best arrangement is the Coalition of APNU and AFC, because it is a genuine Coalition with built-in checks and balances.
Is it going to be easy? No! Forces from all over the world, like we never saw before, will descend on us like a ton of bricks. Psychological manipulation will be attempted on social media. It will be targeted, because they already have ideas about the things that makes you tick. They will blow up the little stories, because they know what you were outraged about in the past. There will be an attempt to hijack your mind, and cause you to vote against your interest. You don’t think that could happen? Well it happened just a few years ago in the United States. Millions, upon millions voted for the party that promised to take away the health care that they need, because they allowed themselves to be convinced that some miniscule thing was more important that life or death. Don’t allow that to happen to you. Remain focus, the PPP will plunder our wealth.