It is very worrying that an oil- rich nation is struggling to keep its lights on. In Guyana, we are experiencing blackouts on a daily basis. Thanks to the huge mismanagement and incompetence of the PPP/C that has plunged its citizens into darkness. The usual style of the government is to lay the blame for the outages squarely at the feet of the workers at the bottom of the organisational structure; they have attempted to blame the technical staff but Guyanese different.
As students across our country prepare to write crucial exams, especially the Grade 6 Assessment, they find themselves grappling not only with the weight of study and academic pressure but also with the unpredictable power outages that disrupt their studies. Imagine the frustration of a student diligently preparing for an exam only to have their study sessions abruptly cut short by yet another blackout. The Ministry of Education is encouraging heads of schools to modernize their classrooms.
With the appropriate information technologies. But the main challenge to achieving this is unreliable power supply. But the It is not just an inconvenience but a troubling disregard for the future generation’s education and development. This is true particularly in circumstances where the government is busying itself with massive infrastructural and allied works but seems unable to have a reliable supply of electricity.
However, it is not just the educational sector that suffers; the public and private sectors alike bear the brunt of this ineptitude. Businesses are struggling to operate efficiently. Also, hospitals with live saving equipment falters during critical moments. Now, in Guyana everyday life becomes a gamble with citizens never knowing when they will have access to basic amenities like refrigeration or air conditioning.
The government must take full responsibility for this struggle. The government has failed in its fundamental duty to provide essential services to its people. Notwithstanding that the incumbent is sitting atop vast reserves of oil wealth, that powers that be have squandered this fortune through corruption, mismanagement, and an extremely shocking lack of foresight. The question is what has become of the billions reaped from the country’s revenues? The answer remains in the shadow of government’s mismanagement and corruption with little to no accountability or transparency.
While citizens suffer in darkness, their leaders bask in the glory of opulence, shielded from the harsh realities of the common folk. Many of those in the elite political class have the resources to procure electrical generators. The poor and unrepresented are left to pick up the bills for repairs to appliances that were damaged by the fluctuation of electrical power from the national grid. Add to that the increasing cost of living, poor wages and salaries of public servants, and the callous disregard of workers right to collective bargaining, and the picture of the daily struggles of Guyanese becomes clearer.
After four years in office the incumbent still can assure Guyanese of a reliable and stable supply of electricity. Yet, earlier this year, the PPP/C government presented the biggest budget ever in the history of Guyana. but the national power infrastructure remains dilapidated.
Guyanese would recall that, under the APNU/AFC government the electricity was stable and reliable. Improving the national grid was a high priority of that government because the leadership understood the importance of electricity to personal, corporate and national development.
