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Dear Editor
The recent visit of several “top brass” members of the leadership within the PPP administration to the US, has brought into focus the leadership deficit of this installed regime.
What has this visit to the US done to really be of benefit to Guyana? Are we as a country better off from this sojourn to the United States of America? Is our Guyanese brothers and sisters in the diaspora more informed by the information provided to them, about what life is really like back home, the economy and where the country is heading?
Mr. Editor, I have read an article in the Demerara Waves news outlet several days ago, captioned “President Ali’s religious beliefs has brought international goodwill- Teixeira.
Those were the words uttered by the senior Minister of Governance while addressing congregants at a “Hindu Temple” in Queens New York. How religiously insensitive can one be and to crown it off, she underscored the value of the President’s religious persuasion in accessing much-needed assistance.
The Minister posited to the mostly Hindu audience in their temple that “We recognise that President Ali is a Muslim and also that has brought goodwill to us from the Middle East, from Qatar, from Kuwait, from the United Arab Emirates etc,”
Mr editor, where is this good will the Minister spoke of, where is it? Is it from Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Juma Al Maktoum of the United Arab Emirates, whom the Government paid more than double the cost price other countries paid for the Russia-made Sputnik vaccine? Is that the good will? It appears more, that the Sheikh got the “government’s good will” from that sweet heart price of a deal, than the country itself.
Mr editor, what does the religious persuasion of a President has to do with his country’s international and bilateral relationships with another country? Are Guyanese to accept the Minister’s shallow view in this regard, that one’s religious belief is the precursor for a country gaining goodwill from another as a result of similar belief systems? This is absolute Gaga, nothing more than a nonsensical, hogwash political rethoric which serves only to insult the intelligence of all Guyanese.
This petite and myopic type politics of taking the credit and pretending as if it was your doing that has contributed to gains or good will, being garnered must stop.
It must stop by acknowledging and giving credit where it is due, it shows a sign maturity and growth in our political landscape.
Mr. Editor, it should be known,that it was the David Granger-led coalition administration who operationalise the embassy in Kuwait with that government providing much needed financial assistance for the running of that embassy and us sending a diplomat to represent our country’s interest. Additionally, it was the David Granger administration that initiated discussions with Qatar and UAE about opening embassies in those two countries.
It is not President Ali’s religious persuasion that brought those things into being, it was already in the works by the coalition government.
Further, it must be made abundantly clear, that Qatar had already agreed to assist Guyana with its diplomatic mission there and work on several initiatives of interest to benefit both countries.
Mr. Editor, it was the APNUAFC coalition with a representation of the country’s diverse religious belief systems, that brought Guyana into the Good Will with the Islamic Development Bank becoming a member in 2016. It was due to our relationship, Guyana was provided with access to nine hundred million US dollars for several developmental projects, mere months after becoming a member. No other administration in Guyana’s history was ever given such access to that large sum of money by a multilateral financial institution and this was made possible to Guyana by the then erudite Finance Minister of the coalition government.
Mr editor, It was the Granger administration which saw the importance, benefits and the need of having a permanent and active presence in the Middle East.
The Minister’s comments of the president has not helped his stature nor his government’s mismanagement of the economy, extremely high cost of living, mismanagement of the Covid 19 pandemic, increase in crime, mismanagement of the education sector, their failure to create jobs for our people and the blatant discrimination in the distribution of covid19 cash grants, educational and farmers cash grants and much more failures too numerous to mention.
I therefore ask again, what good will this installed regime has provided to our people? What religion got to do with it?
As the German sociologist and economic theorist Karl Marx posits “Religion is the opium of the people.”
Yours respectfully,
Jermaine Figueira
Member of Parliament
