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The people elect governments to carry out a core set of responsibilities that have to do with the quality of life they wish to enjoy. These responsibilities pertain specifically to infrastructure, law and order, social support services and planting the seeds for a thriving economy from which citizens of all stripes are able to earn a decent living.
So citizens look to government to ensure their roads are passable, hospitals and schools provide high levels of service, that potable water and proper sewage management are available for all citizens, that local governments are properly funded so that waterways, parapets, garbage collection and maintenance of community center buildings meet the standards that citizens deserve.
Citizens expect that governments will not crowd out private sector investment by creating competing entities and that liberal economic policies, which will ensure that jobs are readily available for the nation’s citizens, are encouraged. Citizens also expect that governments stay away from governing on a platform of racial, gender or any bias and that all citizens have equal access to opportunity, justice and democratic freedoms.
One only has to take an honest look around the country to observe that the government of Guyana is doing none of its core functions well. The people of Guyana, many of whom are today trying to eek out an existence while enduring an every increasing high cost of living, know that the government is failing them, even their own supporters are beginning to complain.
The government of Guyana has instead prioritized the business needs of its 10 to 15 super cronies in the business sector, from whose success they materially benefit. They secretly share opportunities and cut deals for which it is alleged that certain political players financially benefit. Exxon reigns supreme in the land and is more powerful than even the government of Guyana. The gas pipeline project is yet another opportunity to steal from Guyanese taxpayers. Some in Guyana have chosen to ‘ride with’ the PPP party while others are ‘saddled’ with the burden of their ineptitude and corruption. The future of Guyana looks like one of continued racism, corruption, ineptitude and skyrocketing cost of living. The people of Guyana must insist on better.
