– former PM Nagamootoo says in giving PPP ‘F’ grade for first 100 days
Pouring cold water on the People’s Progressive Party/Civic’s (PPP/C’s) claim of tremendous success during its first 100 days in Office, former Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo said the Administration ought to have embraced continuity as against taking credit for the work put in by its predecessor – the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC).
November 10 marked 100 days in Office for PPP/C Administration, and while President Irfaan Ali said his Government made significant progress in addressing the concerns of the masses, APNU+AFC, in protest, drew attention to the fact that since the PPP/C accession to office, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has been spiraling out of control. Further, the Opposition alluded to the unsolved murders, drug busts, and the unwarranted firing of hundreds of public servants.
“We cannot go back to the discredited old days of partisan propaganda politics when the government newspapers used to manufacture “bumper rice crops” in banner headlines during crippling droughts. Imagine the cynicism that the propaganda attracted when the government claimed credit for the recently harvested million-ton paddy crop, which was planted before it came to office! In stark contrast, it distanced itself from the 12-ton cocaine bust in Belgium, which took place under its watch, saying that the shipment has been in preparation several months before the PPP took office!” Nagamootoo wrote in his weekly column ‘My Turn.’
The former Prime Minister admitted PPP/C was handed the reins of government at a time of severe limitations and restraints imposed by the COVID pandemic. According to him, one would have thought that given the circumstances, the new government, in settling down, would have used the opportunity to complete projects that were already in the pipeline.
“For the PPP, modesty should have advised an embrace of continuity, rather than a leap to the mountaintop in a resentful boast that attracted charges of being copy-cats in taking credit for the works of its predecessor,” he posited.
He said as expected the PPP/C’s vulgar political farce easily attracted an exaggerated suck-teeth response and outright rejection by the Opposition, which gave the Government an F- grade for its first 100 days in office.
Turning his attention to the Government’s handling of the pandemic, the former Prime Minister said the PPP/C Administration could hardly claim any favourable ratings. “As former Chairman of the Covid-19 National Task Force (NCTF), I can testify that the hand-over figures at August 2 were 521 positive cases, and 21 deaths. Those were for a period of 113 days. Now, in the 100-day report, the figures skyrocketed to 4,530 positive cases, and 135 deaths. There is no plateau; only fears that the incidence of infection and death would climb,” he pointed out.
In his column, Nagamootoo, who had also served in the PPP/C Administration in the 1990s, said President Ali should take a page out of the late President Cheddi Jagan’s ‘book.’
“In 1992 when Cheddi Jagan became President, he inherited a 7% economic growth rate from his predecessor President Hoyte. His government not only acknowledged that growth, but tried to sustain it. Similarly, with a modicum of grace, the incoming government could have admitted that the Coalition Government had left the economy with positive growth figures, and that competent technocrats had prepared a blueprint for a 2020 budget. It is just not true that the Treasury was bankrupted; or that a bunch of PPP voodoo economists concocted a mock-up for the budget within 19 days!” Nagamootoo reasoned.
Given the new historical focal point of political and constitutional gridlock, he said it’s imperative for the political parties to purposefully work to promote alliance politics and coalition-building.
In supporting his position, the former Prime Minister pointed to the fact that in 2011 the PPP won the presidency and executive power by a plurality of votes but a minority of parliamentary seats — 32 as against 33 for the combined opposition parties. In 2015, the combined (APNU+AFC) opposition, then a coalition, won 33 parliamentary seats as against 32 for the (PPP) opposition, and formed a one-seat majority government. Following the end of the controversial 2020 elections, the PPP/C returned to government with 33 parliamentary seats, as against 32 for the combined opposition.
“With the advent of the phenomenon of one-seat majority governments, Guyana has become a fragile and vulnerable democracy. Our democracy now sits at the apex of an inverted shaky pyramid where our society rests on a fractured base of racial division and political exclusion.
The new power paradigm should dictate political restraint. Boasts of “amazing” successes could breed rising legitimate expectations, but during a paralysing pandemic, the nectar of success would soon sour into the bitter-sweet of disaffection. With “Papa Pompeo” gone, the one-seat pendulum would swing, again!” Nagamootoo submitted.
