EDITORIAL Vote PPP/C come June 12th

Voting is democracy’s signature right and as thousands of Guyanese head to the polls on Monday, June 12, 2023, the importance of local democratic organs cannot be stressed enough.

Looking ahead to polling day, facts about track record –whether or not the political party in power delivered on their promises made in its manifesto – matter. Facts about performance – how well the political party served the Guyanese people – matter. Facts related to whether the Guyanese people can trust the political party in power matters.

On all three of these counts the APNU+AFC Coalition has proven that it is complete and abysmal failure.

On its track record, the Coalition, almost all the promises made in its 2015 manifesto have been broken.

On performance, the reality of average Guyanese make it clear that the ‘good life’ promised by the APNU+AFC Coalition was nothing, but a ‘good lie’. At the national level, after taking office in May 2015, cost of living has skyrocketed and this has been confirmed by the Bank of Guyana in assessing the costs of basic goods. A whopping 30,000 jobs have been lost, with youth unemployment at double digit numbers. The United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) 2019 Human Development Report stated that unemployment among youths, ages 15 to 24, stands at almost 23 per cent. The report added that youths not in school or employment, ages 15-24, stands at a massive 35.2 per cent. Corruption has skyrocketed under the APNU+AFC Coalition with the US State Department citing Guyana for "government corruption" being a "primary sources of laundered funds" in 2017. The Inter-American Development Bank has now placed Guyana at the top spot in the Caribbean as the country with the highest bribery rate. If Guyanese tried to assess competence of the APNU+AFC Coalition, the atrocious nature of how badly was under-served in the ExxonMobil negotiations is the first thing that comes to mind. Imagine the Coalition’s Raphael Trotman has an ExxonMobil official draft Guyana’s position – the same position Guyana went to ExxonMobil with to renegotiate the oil deal in 2016. At the local level, one only has to look at the state of Georgetown, in addition to the issues of lack of accountability and transparency, tells a grim tale.

What all of this demonstrates is that the APNU+AFC Coalition cannot be trusted. APNU+AFC cannot be trusted to protect the interests of Guyanese. APNU+AFC cannot be trusted to protect our national patrimony. APNU+AFC cannot be trusted to stand by its promises. Further, in recent months, unsubstantiated and wildly irresponsible claims – all worded along lines to stir tensions among Guyanese continue to be peddled by leaders of the PNCR-led APNU+AFC Coalition – sending a clear signal that the interests of our people are not front and center for the PNCR-led Coalition.

Consequently, the APNU+AFC Coalition cannot be trusted with our future; it cannot be trusted with the future of our children. Its actions in almost five years of being in office, as well as over the past two and a glad years, have done nothing, but imperil our futures.

Guyanese must also remember that extreme actions by the APNU+AFC Coalition – from its defiance of the rulings of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) regarding its diminished authority as a caretaker government, to its contempt for the Constitution of Guyana – placed the bastions of our democracy under assault. The democratic gains Guyana has made since the first free and fair General and Regional Elections in 1992 cannot be put at risk. Guyanese cannot afford a reversal. One only has to look at last week’s court rulings, where the APNU+AFC Coalition’s Chief Scrutineer, Carol Smith-Joseph, two cases filed in her name, aimed at blocking the holding of the 2023 Local Government Elections (LGE), thrown out of the high court.

Since August 2, 2020, the principles of: governing for the people; transparency and accountability; and respect for the rule of law have been returned to its rightful place. It is only successive People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) governments that Guyanese have seen these principles being the order of the day. And it is only the incumbent PPP/C Administration that can continue to advance the transformational developmental agenda that benefits all of our people – regardless of class, religion, ethnicity or any other differentiating factor.

The renowned Nelson Mandela once said: “An enlightened and informed population is the surest way of promoting the health of a democracy.” Guyanese, as a people, must ensure that the decision they make on June 12, 2023 is an informed choice. It is only us, as a people, who can ensure that we progress together.

We are stronger together.