Dear Editor
Despite the non-oil economy coming under tremendous stress during the pandemic, the PPP/C government has done very little to support the local economy. Instead, it has focused on firing over a thousand public servants.
Countless Guyanese have lost their jobs- where is the monthly support package seen in so many countries, even nearby Trinidad and Tobago? Instead, all the PPP/C has provided is a measly 25,000 for Covid-19 relief. Why isn’t this being given per person rather than per household? Many young people have been excluded because they live with their families. Is this the way that young people can expect to be treated under the PPP/C regime? It seems young people are only an afterthought.
Further, why is this Covid-19 relief being distributed by region, rather than to low income citizens first? Are the PPP/C playing politics with the cash grants by serving their voting communities first? Lower income Guyanese not only need these funds the most, they are the most likely to spend the money, boosting the local economy. Playing politics with the cash grant is harming the Guyanese economy.
This relief was announced in September, yet in December hundreds of thousands of Guyanese are still to receive this relief. This is a poor response to such a massive crisis. Why hasn’t the natural disaster clause of the Natural Resource Fund been leveraged to provide more robust support? What other plans do the PPP/C have for all those millions and millions of USD in oil money? If this money is not for suffering Guyanese then ask yourself, who is it for? The PPP/C executive?
There have been no emergency cash grants from the government for University of Guyana and other tertiary institution students. This is despite the pandemic disrupting higher learning and the costs associated with this piling up. A smart phone and laptop have become a necessity for online learning, items which are anything but cheap. Study in the midst of a pandemic is difficult enough without an unsympathetic government.
Why has there been no broad public sector raise or bonus? The Coalition government gave an 8.5% raise last year. Now, when the economy is in need of financial stimulus, because of the pandemic, there is no raise or bonus? That is poor management of the economy, and both public servants and the businesses that benefit from their patronage are suffering. Is the PPP/C allowing the economy to shrink because they know any retroactive raise in public servant pay would include the thousand people they have fired this year? Such pettiness puts politics above the welfare of the country.
Regards
GYSM
