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“People are living in squalor, people cannot afford three meals a day, people cannot afford housing, people cannot get jobs, people cannot afford a vacation and ministers are coming to New York to wine.” So says social activist Mark Benschop, who has expressed outrage at what he sees as the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government wanting to politicise the New York Caribbean/West Indian Labour Day Parade.
The Labour Day Parade is held on the first Monday of September and is akin to a carnival experience. It is preceded by J’Ouvert the evening before. Over the three-day holiday weekend West Indians would participate in boat cruises and parties. The weekend usually marks the unofficial end of the summer.
Spending taxpayers’ money on another spree
Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Oneidge Walrond, and Junior Minister of Housing Susan Rodrigues will be in New York this weekend for the parade. They will be collaborating with the Nomads Carnival Band as part of the ‘one Guyana’ misnomer.
This is a first in the history of the greatest street party in New York which was elevated in 1969 to the scale where it is today by Trinidad and Tobago-American Carlos Lezama. The oddity is not lost on Benschop.
The social activist was quick to point out the New York Parkway, where the parade passes through, “was never used to promote partisan politics which the PPP is trying to do.” To this end he warned Guyanese if they do not nip the partisanship in the bud, it will spread like cancer and destroy an event, that for more than half a century, Caribbean people put aside their politics; frolic and enjoy the festivities in camaraderie.
Sharply criticising the government’s planned visit, Benschop on his nightly “Straight Up” programme, which is streamed online and broadcast on Benschop Radio 107.1 FM, said with the mismanagement of Guyana’s economy the last thing Guyanese should tolerate from the PPP is another spending spree and wastage of taxpayers’ money.
It is his view the ministers’ presence in New York to party is not only wastage of taxpayers’ money but also disregard for the challenges Guyanese are facing, particularly those at home. As a show of protest the popular talk show host is calling on Guyanese in the United States, who will be participating in the Labour Day parade not to participate in the band the government is part of. He said, boycott them!
“Wine, look back and boo”
The social activist is calling for a special type of boycott. Benschop said Guyanese should stay away, but for those who want to participate in the street revelry they must do a “protest wine” when they see the PPP float going by. Asked to explain what he means by a “protest wine,” the social activist said the people must “wine, look back and boo,” the government ministers.
The radio owner is also proposing that Guyanese participating in the parade, in floats or on the sideline, must return to the government what he called the ‘Jagdeo Syndrome.’ People must “walk behind them, chase them out, dey illegal,” Benschop said, mimicking the statement made by then Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo speaking at a PPP rally, advising party supporters how to treat the David Granger/Moses Nagamootoo, A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) government, after the parliamentary no-confidence vote.
Guyana is a wealthy country
Benschop shared that “now is the time for right thinking Guyanese, including PPP supporters to join the protest wine” in light of the “gross mismanagement of oil and gas money and the suffering the installed regime is inflicting on all Guyanese, whether you voted for them or not and across all races.”
The talk show host’s view underscored widespread concern that in the world’s fastest growing economy, and richest per capita, cost of living has skyrocketed and half the population live in poverty. In this wealthy economy teachers, public sector and disciplined services workers continue to be denied livable wages/salaries.
This year Guyana is expected to earn no less than US$2.8 Billion in oil and gas revenue. In February the Government passed a $1.146 Trillion National Budget. In July the Government returned to the National Assembly for Supplemental Spending of over $40 Billion. Guyana is a very wealthy country.
